ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140066
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Rumors continue to circulate within the production work force at General Electric Co.'s idled plant in Salem that a big layoff is coming after the plant resumes operations Monday.
However, Mike Allee, spokesman for the GE Motors and Industrial Systems Division's industrial controls factory, said Monday that the company still has no announcement to make related to layoffs. Company managers are still assessing the plant's employment needs for the first part of 1997 and are discussing the situation with representatives of the International Union of Electronic Workers, he said.
On Jan. 6, GE idled the plant for two weeks by moving up a mandatory vacation period that usually is held during the summer. The company cited a lack of work ready for the factory floor as a reason for the earlier shutdown and said it hoped the temporary closing would solve the scheduling problem.
During the past four years, GE has been adding hourly workers at the Salem plant, bringing the current production work force to more than 900. Production workers make roughly $16 per hour not including fringe benefits.
According to information from a worker at the plant, GE wants to cut the production payroll, at least temporarily, by about 190 jobs, preferably through either voluntary retirements or voluntary layoffs. Because the plant has plenty of work scheduled for the second half of this year, workers who are laid off now could be called back then, said one worker who declined to be identified.
Last January, GE announced that it was transferring the work done by 154 production workers at the Salem plant to other GE plants in Puerto Rico, China and Mexico. At that time, GE said none of the Salem workers would be laid off, because it had enough work in other areas of the plant to keep them busy.
Allee said some of those workers have already been transferred to other jobs within the operation. But because of the current slowdown in business, the transfer of other work out of the plant has been delayed, Allee said.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB