150 Layoffs in the GTP Towanda Plant

From the Towanda Daily Review:

TOWANDA - Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. announced Wednesday that it is eliminating 150 positions at its Towanda plant.  The reduction in employees is occurring because the plant has experienced a dropoff in sales in its wire and phosphor business, according to a press release from the company. 

"The phasing out of incandescent light bulbs and technology changes that require less phosphor in fluorescent lamp manufacturing" has a resulted in a decrease in sales in GTP's wire and phosphor business, GTP said in its press release. 

The positions being eliminated are all associated with the plant's production of wire products, which are used in a variety of industries, primarily lighting, said Craig Rieder, director of human resources at GTP.  The elimination of the positions is expected to begin in September 2012 and be completed by February 2013, the release said.

As I often tell clients who are laid off, if you are currently working but on light duty with restrictions due to a work injury, and then you're laid off, you need to contact a competent workers' compensation attorney immediately.  Your wage benefits should be immediately reinstated upon lay off....even if the work injury is an old one.  Call me if you have any questions.

Layoffs at Wyalusing's Cargill Plant

From the Towanda Daily Review:

The Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Wyalusing has eliminated ten positions as part of a worldwide reduction in the company's workforce. The cuts amount to about one percent of the Wyalusing plant's 1,100-person workforce, said Cargill Meat Solutions spokesman Mike Martin. The eliminated positions come from a variety of departments within the plant, Martin said.

The only reason I highlight this article is to point out and remind workers that if you're laid off due to economic conditions AND you're still on light duty from an accepted work injury, then your workers' comp wage benefits automatically get reinstated-- no questions asked.  If the insurance company refuses to immediately reinstate your weekly wage benefits, then you need to contact a lawyer so he/she can file a penalty petition with the workers' compensation judge.  This rule even applies to old injuries.  As long as you're still on restricted duty from a work injury and you get laid off, then your benefits are reinstated.

Hope this helps.  And my heart goes out to the laid off workers and their families.  Tough time of the year to be unemployed.  Good luck to them.

Rumors of Ingersoll-Rand Athens, Pa Plant Closing

Once again, there are rumors circulating throughout the Valley that the Athens, PA Ingersoll-Rand plant is going to completely shut its doors. Every few years this rumor seems to pop up. But this time around, there's more to the story.

As detailed in a recent Morning Times article, there are approximately 174 people employed at the Athens, PA plant. Compare this to the plant's heyday in 1967 when 1800 people were employed at the plant.

According to an anonymous source inside the plant, 110 employees were let go since the beginning of 2009.

I would still bet against the plant closing, especially given the almost yearly rumors of a shut down. However, if you're an employee there and have a possible work injury that has not been officially accepted by IR's workers' compensation insurance company, now is the time to get it done. I have blogged about this before with regard to being laid off while on light duty work restrictions due to a work related injury. If so, you should be automatically put back on total disability and receive your full disability rate. However, this will not happen if your claim has not been officially accept.

As for comment by corporate headquarters on the possible plant closing:

“We don’t ever comment on anything in the future,” said Susan Jaramillo, director of communication for the corporate headquarters."

More Bradford County Layoffs

From the Towanda Daily Review:

The economic downturn is affecting the work force at most of the larger manufacturing plants in the Bradford County through temporary furloughs, permanent layoffs or reductions in work hours. Here is how the economy is affecting the work force at some of the larger local businesses:

— In response to reduced demand for its products, the Ingersoll-Rand’s plant in Athens, which employs 253, will temporarily shut down during this holiday season, said Susan Jaramillo, a company spokesman. Specifically, the plant will be shut down from Dec. 19 to Dec. 28, and again from Dec. 31 to Jan. 4, she said.

— The Mill’s Pride plant in Athens Township has in place a number of temporary, voluntary layoffs of its employees, which began Nov. 28 and which will end Jan. 26, said Kathleen Vokes, director of communications for the plant’s parent company, Masco Corp. Attempts to find out from the company how many employees were participating in the voluntary layoff program were unsuccessful. Mill’s Pride produces cabinets for kitchens and other locations in people’s homes, Vokes said.

— At the end of November, Penndu Manufacturing Inc. laid off most of the employees at its plant in Tuscarora Township, reducing the number of employees at the plant from 25 to "about 10," said Dwylan Lefever, general manager of the company. Because business at sawmills has dropped off, "they are not purchasing capital equipment," which has reduced the demand for products made at Penndu, such as saws and conveying equipment, he said. A nationwide slump in manufacturing is also affecting Penndu, because there is not as much demand for wood pallets, he said. Consequently, pallet manufacturers are not buying as much equipment from Penndu, Lefever said.

— A total of 70 employees in two businesses in Troy Township that are owned by the Cummings family — Cummings Lumber and Barefoot Flooring — have been laid off this month as lumber sales slow, company officials said.

— At the CraftMaster Manufacturing plant in Wysox Township, which makes wood products used in home construction and remodeling, there have been temporary reductions in work hours of production workers on certain weeks in recent months, said plant CraftMaster Vice President and mill Manager Bob Andzulis. "It’s not a wholesale cutback" of hours, but does occur from time to time, he said. Also, 46 employees were laid off at the plant in March, and, in addition, a number of employees took offers of early retirement at that time, he said. Andzulis declined to say how many employees took the early retirement offers.

— Almost 200 of the 975 employees at Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. (GTP) in Towanda have elected to take voluntary furloughs, which could last a week or several weeks, company spokesman Craig Rieder said. The furloughs began in November and are scheduled to end at the end of December, he said.

— DuPont Corp. in Towanda is in the process of laying off 42 contract workers at the plant, which will leave 538 employees at the plant, company officials said.

— The newspaper industry also is affected by the downturn in the economy. At The Daily & Sunday Review, for example, a wage freeze and a hiring freeze have been imposed.

I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Bradford County Employers Laying Off Workers

In today's Towanda Daily Review, there are two articles about local employers laying off workers. Because of this, I wanted to again stress my last blog post: "What do I do when I'm working light duty but laid off?"

As detailed in the Towanda Daily Review, employees from the former Osram Sylvania, now Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. (GTP), were offered a voluntary layoff. See the article here.

Also in the same edition of the paper, two Troy, Pennsylvania companies owned by the Cummings Family, have laid off workers. 22 employees from Cummings Lumber and 48 employees from Barefoot Flooring have been laid off. See the article here.

As stressed in my last post, if you're working a light duty job due to a work related injury and you're laid off, you should contact an experienced workers' compensation attorney immediately. At that point, your total disability wage benefits should be reinstated immediately upon lay off.

What do I do when I'm working light duty but laid off?

During tough economic times, many employees face layoffs. One of the first types of employees that a company would layoff, for economic reasons, are the ones that are working light duty due to a work related injury. It is imperative that, if you are in this situation and you are facing a layoff, but you are currently working in a light duty status due to a work related injury, you need to talk to an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer immediately.

If you are laid off while working a light duty job, due to a work related injury, then your total disability wage benefits should be immediately reinstated. Despite the fact that this is clearly the law, many employers do not know this and will not reinstate workers’ compensation wage benefits once the employee is laid off.

Also, in many instances, the employer and/or workers’ compensation insurance company has not even officially accepted the work related injury. Then, once the injured worker is laid off, the insurance company will claim that they never officially accepted the work injury and, therefore, you will be completely out of luck.

That is why it is imperative that if you have a work injury, you need to report it and make sure that the workers’ compensation insurance company officially accepts the specific work injury so everything is official and formal. Then, if you do face a layoff for economic reasons, it will be easier to have your total disability wage benefits reinstated.

OSRAM's Towanda plant sold to Austrian company

I posted this news item in the "News" section C&C Law's web site here.

Whenever we have a major plant closing I often get calls from people who have current workers' compensation cases with the company being sold. The employees are usually concerned about the continuation of their benefits, etc.

99% of the time, though, you don't have to worry about your benefits stopping or being effected at all by the sale. Obviously, though, your job (assuming you're still working either full or light duty) might be affected. So, if your company is sold and you are laid off but you also have an open workers' compensation case, make sure you talk to an experienced workers' comp. lawyer to review your options.

There's more information on the sale here.