Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210102
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We don't have the information at this time that would allow us to be more specific," company spokesman R. Page Henley Jr. said. "Potentially, this could affect 745 people."
The Philadelphia-based company said in a statement that it is seeking to offset losses of more than $13 million sustained by its Virginia subsidiary, Pine Branch Mining Inc., over the last six months. As a result, Westmoreland will close the Holton Low Splint Mine, which employs 25 people in Lee and Wise counties, on Aug. 23. And during two weeks thereafter, the company said, it expects to implement "a further significant layoff at its other Virginia facilities."
"We are hopeful that during the next 60 days, we will be able to reach an agreement, either with our employees or with a third-party purchaser of our Virginia assets, on terms that will allow for the continued operation of our facilities," the company's statement said.
Westmoreland has been closing or selling mines for the last several years, Henley said, in an effort to restructure and diversify.
Stock analysts who follow the coal industry were not surprised by Westmoreland's move, adding that the company had been indicating to stockholders for months that it intended to divest itself of a substantial portion of its coal-related assets.
"The message to the union is that hopefully they can come to some sort of an agreement" soon, R. Bentley Offutt, a Baltimore-based analyst, said. "In this situation, it suggests that the employees will need to work with whoever purchases the plant. Certainly, the employees were aware of the situation. This was just the final official notice needed to comply with federal law."
Union leaders said Westmoreland informed them only Monday that the company planned to order layoffs at this time.
"As far as the layoffs, we were surprised, yes," United Mine Workers District 28 President Donnie Lowe said, adding that he believes Westmoreland has significant orders that could sustain the company through July 1996.
Employees, Lowe said, are concerned about their jobs, and Westmoreland has given the union no indication of its long-range plans, although options, including an employee buyout, have been proposed.
Union officials will meet with Westmoreland representatives Friday to continue that discussion, Lowe said.
by CNB