Bombardier To Shut Down Its Factory in Auburn NY
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Local employees were expecting layoffs
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Dave Tobin and David L. Shaw
Staff writers
Bombardier's huge Auburn Technology plant at the corner of Orchard
and Columbus streets was quiet Monday afternoon. In a few months, it
will be quiet for good.
William Spurr, president of Bombardier Transportation, North America,
told employees their plant would likely close by spring. Then he sent
the 160 employees home early, with two days of paid leave. Employees
can return to work Thursday.
"We expect to close between April and June," said Spurr. "We don't
see a way out. We did look for many alternatives over the last
months, trying to bring a solution that would not require us
closing."
Federal labor law requires a 60-day notice before a plant can close.
The announcement stunned employees, who suspected layoffs, knowing
that production contracts for Metro North and Long Island Railroad
cars were winding down.
"It was a shock to all of us," said Joseph Bennett, president of
Local 3482 of the United Steelworkers of American union, which
represents 128 employees. "We thought there might be some layoffs,
but we weren't expecting this kick in the butt."
Bennett, a second-generation worker at the plant, started working
there 31 years ago, when there were more than 1,200 employees. The
plant sits on 15.7 acres.
The factory had had several owners in its 120-year history. At one
time nearly 2,000 were employed there.
Most current employees averaged 12 to 15 years of tenure, said
Bennett, with some of them third-generation employees. Wages ranged
from $10 to $22 an hour.
"This is not about wages," said David Slack, a company spokesman.
"This is about workload. It's hitting all five of our North American
sites, and Auburn is the most serious."
Just two and a half years ago, Bombardier officials and area elected
officials gathered at the Auburn plant, celebrating a $2 million
retooling and training investment, and the plant's new status as
Bombardier's "Center for Expertise for Bogie Manufacturing."
Bogies are undercarriage frames for railroad cars. Auburn was the
only Bombardier plant in North American that manufactured bogies,
which would be shipped to a Bombardier plant in Plattsburgh, where
they were assembled with wheels, braking and propulsion systems.
At the time, Bombardier was bidding on a big, long-term, rail car
contract for the Port Authority of New York. It lost that contract to
Kawasaki.
"We were hoping for great things," said Spurr.
The Auburn plant also made aerospace parts no longer needed by
Bombardier.
Timothy C. Lattimore, Auburn mayor, said local state and federal
officials had tried to help Bombardier get business and remain in
Auburn. He plans to explore locating start-up businesses in the huge
plant, where the main building alone is 144,000 square feet.
"It's a nice manufacturing site with rail, water, sewer, roads and
utilities," he said.
Spurr said he was unsure about the building's future.
Bombardier and union officials will be negotiating a retention
incentive package, to encourage employees to stay and complete work
at the plant, said Spurr. Severance and retraining packages will also
be offered, after company officials work out details with union
officials.
Bombardier is using only a fraction of the cavernous building, which
makes it the smallest of Bombardier Transportation's five North
American plants.
"Each of our (five North American) sites will likely be affected
sometime this year, said Slack.
Although the Auburn plant did "quite well" in 2005, it could not be
retooled for other manufacturing "without a lot of investment," said
Spurr.
Bombardier employees will have the next two days to process the end
of their jobs, the end of an era.
"It's a shock. We understand that," said Slack. "This isn't easy for
anybody."
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© 2006 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.
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