By David Pitt
The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa - First, Maytag Corp. moved two parts plants to Mexico; now, a refrigerator plant is headed there.

The relocations to Reynosa, Mexico, have intensified fears that Maytag might export even more jobs to countries with cheap labor.

MAYTAG CORP.

Headquarters: Newton, Iowa Employs: 20,200 Established: 1893, as a farm equipment manufacturer. Introduced first washing machine in 1907. Brand names: Maytag, Jenn-Air, Amana, Magic Chef, Hoover. Major rivals: Whirlpool, Electrolux, General Electric.

A company that grew from a small-town farm equipment manufacturer to the third-largest appliance manufacturer in North America, Maytag is drawing bitter criticism for moving jobs outside the United States.

Chief executive Ralph Hake, who joined the Newton, Iowa-based company in June 2001, is getting much of the blame.

"Maytag has always sold their name as the American classic," said Sue Wilson, a former Maytag employee who now works for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, one of the unions that represents Maytag workers.

"Maybe Hake doesn't understand the heritage he's inherited, but the board of directors certainly understands that and to me they've sold the soul of their name to the lowest bidder," Wilson said.

Hake, who declined to be interviewed, told analysts in a conference call last month that Maytag has no plans to shut more U.S. factories. He stressed that most of Maytag's large appliances continue to be assembled in the United States, although some parts are made offshore.

And even with the Reynosa plant in operation next summer, 90 percent of Maytag's refrigerators will still be made in the United States, Hake said.

"Our goal is to grow enough to have all our plants running well," he said. "I do not anticipate multiple plant shutdowns or restructuring here," he said.