TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Layoffs at DuPont plant

By Eric DuVall<br><a href="mailto:duvalle@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Eric</a>

As many as 55 workers at the DuPont plant on River Road will be out of a job, a union official at the plant said Thursday.

The news comes following an announcement by the company that it is reducing its international workforce by some 2,500 employees as a sagging national economy hits hard its automotive and construction divisions.

The plant, which manufactures high-end Corian kitchen and bathroom sinks and countertops, has seen a sharp decrease in business driven largely by a national housing market in freefall. The number of new homes being built has dipped to its lowest point since 1959, decreasing demand for the plant’s products.

Leslie Beckhoff, a spokeswoman for DuPont, said the Tonawanda site will have some “minimal impact,” but that finalized numbers haven’t been determined. She added that only 550 of the layoffs are expected to be within the Unites States, with the rest occurring at Western European facilities.

Dan Austin, president of the United Steelworkers local union at the plant, said meetings were held with his members this morning to explain the process. The plant will accept voluntary terminations first, which Austin said will offer workers who have enough seniority to earn a full pension the opportunity to take a severance package in addition to their pension. Any volunteers for termination will decrease the number of job cuts made to younger employees who haven’t yet earned a pension.

“How it’s going to shake down we won’t know until early or mid next week,” Austin said.

Austin said the union expects the housing sector to suffer for at least another 18 months, meaning the likelihood is slim that anyone laid off next week will receive a call-back in the near future.

“We knew something was coming,” Austin said. “DuPont has gone out of their way to keep these people employed when they should have done this sooner. Historically, DuPont does not like laying people off.”

Still, according to the union president, the plant has not been run at peak efficiency for some time. Austin said he’s been “pleading” with management to update “archaic work practices” he says are preventing the company from making more money.

“We gotta learn to work smarter,” he said. “Too much fat, too much waste. Wasted time. We’ve lived too fat too long and we need to get in tune with what’s going on in industry today.”

DuPont also has a plant in Niagara Falls that produces lithium for industrial purposes. Austin said he doesn’t expect any of the 2,500 layoffs to hit the plant in the Falls. Beckhoff confirmed that suspicion.

“This doesn’t impact any employment there,” Beckhoff said of the Falls facility.

In a statement posted to the company’s Web site, CEO Chad Holliday said DuPont is taking the necessary steps to confront an economy in recession.

“We have taken immediate and aggressive actions to maximize cash flow by reducing cost, working capital and capital expenditures in response to current market challenges,” Holliday said. “We will build on our strong financial and market positions and continue prudent financial discipline in navigating through this challenging economic environment. We are providing 2009 earnings guidance and underlying assumptions in our effort to be as transparent as possible with respect to the current and expected impact of the global recession. We are, however, realistic about the potential for further change and we will adjust actions as conditions warrant.”

Austin said layoffs were the only options currently being discussed. Buyout packages, common when companies are looking to reduce a union workforce, were not an option. Also, wage and hours-worked concessions have not been discussed, the local union president said.

About 700 people are presently employed at the Town of Tonawanda plant, which also manufactures Tedlar, an industrial film.

Reporter Dan Pye contributed to this report.

Contact Managing Editor Eric DuVall at 693-1000, ext. 112.