ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701270089
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
General Electric Co. said Friday it has cut by more than half the size of a layoff set to begin Monday at its Motors & Industrial Systems plant in Salem.
The company said it was able to reduce the original planned layoff of 167 workers to 138 after nearly 30 more workers agreed to take a temporary layoff through the end of March. The number of GE workers on voluntary layoff now stands at roughly 50.
Also, the company said that 56 of the workers still facing layoff on Monday will be called back to work Feb. 3, after only one week. The early recall, GE said, is possible after rescheduling work that had been planned for later in the year.
The remaining 82 workers, who will be on indefinite layoff, may be recalled by the end of June, GE said.
Reduction in the size of the layoff comes as "real good news" for a lot of people, said Michael Shepherd, administrative chief steward with the International Union of Electronic Workers. The union, representing the factory's production workers, had been negotiating with GE for the past three weeks, trying to get the company to cut the size of the layoff, he said.
Gerald Meadows, president of the IUE local at the plant, is one of those taking a voluntary temporary layoff. Meadows has been suffering some medical problems and said the chance to take the layoff came at a good time for him.
Taking the temporary layoff also helps another worker keep his job, Meadows said.
Each person who agreed to a temporary layoff had his own reason for doing so, Meadows said. For one thing, the person knows he will have a job to come back to after it's over, Shepherd added.
GE workers, whether they are on a mandatory indefinite layoff or a temporary voluntary layoff, are eligible to receive a company benefits package. It includes an income supplement that laid-off workers can draw along with state unemployment benefits.
GE announced the indefinite layoff to workers Monday after all 900 production workers at the plant returned from a mandatory two-week vacation period. The early vacation saved the company from having to lay off another 100 workers, GE said.
The company blamed the layoff on an imbalance in orders, resulting in a lack of work ready for the factory floor. The plant, part of the GE Motors and Industrial Systems Division, makes drive and operating systems for steel mills, power plants and other industrial uses.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines KEYWORDS: JOBCHEKby CNB