60 people laid off at borough tool plant

November 18, 2002|BY RICHARD BELISLE

A softening in the automobile market coupled with fierce competition has resulted in the layoffs of 69 workers at the Landis Gardner tool plant on 20 E. Sixth St. in Waynesboro, a company official said Friday.

Mike Rock, manager of human resources at Landis Gardner, said 41 union workers will be laid off along with 28 nonunion workers, including some production supervisors and mid-level managers.

The production workers are represented by Local 992 of the Teamsters Union and are subject to recall based on seniority, according to union rules. Layoffs of the nonunion workers are considered permanent, Rock said.

Friday's layoffs drop the company's work force to 237 employees, Rock said.

Workers at the plant have been on rotating furloughs since February as the company fought to avoid layoffs and maintain the expertise needed to restart full production when business picked up.

Landis Gardner, a Unova company, manufactures grinding machines, mostly for the automobile industry. Grinders made in Waynesboro are used to manufacture parts of internal combustion engines from camshafts to crankshafts to push rods, Rock said.

"The industry as a whole is soft," Rock said. "The automobile industry is not spending a whole lot on capital goods and there are other companies that make what we make."

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