ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 1, 1997 TAG: 9701020036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
New River Castings laid off 110 of its 555 workers on New Year's Eve, effective immediately.
Intermet Corp., the Michigan-based parent company of New River Castings, cited changes in the product mix, which eliminated the overnight shift on one of the plant's two mold-casting lines.
Workers at the west Radford plant mostly cast iron parts for the automotive industry such as disc brake calipers and power train components. Recently the plant has been making larger parts that require less labor, said Jan Toennisson, Intermet spokeswoman. Production at the First Street plant has held steady the past five years at 65,000 tons a year, she said.
The layoffs came at year's end because the decision was just made, Toennisson said. She said company officials were making 1997 projections as recently as Monday.
Officials said the layoffs were based on seniority and there would be no severance packages. More than half of the laid-off workers had been there fewer than 90 days, said Silas Huff, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 9936. The rest had been there less than a year.
About 75 of the laid-off workers are union members.
Huff said the plant has a high turnover rate. It lost 52 percent of its workers in 1996, which he attributed to excessive overtime.
"I regret seeing anybody get laid off this time of year," Huff said. "I'm not sure if the company really cares. You see a lot of that in industry today. With downsizing and profit motives, maybe they don't show enough concern for the people."
The starting salary at New River Castings is $8.30 an hour. The workers who were laid off earned up to $9 an hour.
Company officials weren't sure of the exact date of New River Castings' last layoff, but said it was earlier this decade. About a dozen workers were affected then. A 1986 layoff sent 175 workers home.
In September 1992, the company added about 75 jobs after a $20 million expansion. The plant has buzzed with layoff rumors for several days, said Huff.
Intermet has two other Virginia subsidiaries: the Radford Shell Foundry next door to New River Castings and the Archer Creek Plant outside Lynchburg.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines KEYWORDS: JOBCHEKby CNB