Post by Michele on Jan 15, 2011 20:36:23 GMT -5
I work there. This totally sucks.
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Fibrex closes, jobs lost
By PAUL MORDEN, THE OBSERVER
The union representing about 140 workers at Fibrex Insulations Inc. says it hopes a buyer can be found for the Sarnia plant, which closed suddenly Wednesday.
Rick Garant, a national representative with the Canadian Auto Workers Union (C AW), said he only learned Wednesday afternoon in a phone call from the plant manager that the company had gone into receivership.
A recording at the Sarnia office phone said operations have ceased and that Alvarez and Marsal Canada Inc., was appointed receiver on Wednesday by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
"By 4 p.m., everybody on the afternoon and night shifts were notified not to come in," Garant said.
"The members were told they would receive their wages and vacation pay, although that remains to be seen, and the workplace would be closed."
The workers should also be entitled to severance pay, he said.
"Those types of things obviously need to be resolved."
Garant said the company has had financial difficulties for some time and the last round of bargaining was difficult.
"There was a buyer, apparently, looking at the plant at the time this all went down," he said.
"I'm sure this changes everything. I'm also sure that if in fact there was a buyer, he would have much rather had the place keep running to supply the customers.
"At the end of the day, if there's a buyer out there willing to work with the union, we're certainly willing to work with them."
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said his first concern is for the workers and the impact the closing will have on their lives.
He's asked the Sarnia- Lambton Economic Partnership to inquire if there's a role it can play, adding he will follow up to see that workers "get fair compensation and are properly treated by the company and the courts."
The insulation plant has operated on Scott Road for many years under a number of owners.
"There's a long history of this plant struggling, going back to Holmes Insulation and Partek," Bradley said.
"I can recall back in the 1990s being involved in efforts to keep it alive with new ownership."
The plant was losing money under the ownership of the Finnish company Partek Insulations when it was purchased in 1996 by an American buyer and renamed Fibrex.
In 2000, Fibrex was named a winner of an Ontario Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Business Achievement Award.
Garant, who just recently took over responsibility for the bargaining unit at Fibrex, said he spoke with the plant manager Tuesday on another matter.
"He gave me no indication whatsoever that this was forthcoming, and I don't believe he knew, to be honest."
Bradley said he heard from a source that "it seemed there was a host of issues that forced them into receivership."
Sarnia-Lambton has experienced the same decline of manufacturing jobs that has hit other Ontario communities over the last generation, Bradley said.
"That's why we've focused so much on trying to rebuild the chemical sector, the biofuels sector, the alternative energy sector, because that's where the future job growth is going to come," he said.
"That's just being realistic about what's happening to the manufacturing sector in Ontario."
pmorden@theobserver.ca
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Fibrex closes, jobs lost
By PAUL MORDEN, THE OBSERVER
The union representing about 140 workers at Fibrex Insulations Inc. says it hopes a buyer can be found for the Sarnia plant, which closed suddenly Wednesday.
Rick Garant, a national representative with the Canadian Auto Workers Union (C AW), said he only learned Wednesday afternoon in a phone call from the plant manager that the company had gone into receivership.
A recording at the Sarnia office phone said operations have ceased and that Alvarez and Marsal Canada Inc., was appointed receiver on Wednesday by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
"By 4 p.m., everybody on the afternoon and night shifts were notified not to come in," Garant said.
"The members were told they would receive their wages and vacation pay, although that remains to be seen, and the workplace would be closed."
The workers should also be entitled to severance pay, he said.
"Those types of things obviously need to be resolved."
Garant said the company has had financial difficulties for some time and the last round of bargaining was difficult.
"There was a buyer, apparently, looking at the plant at the time this all went down," he said.
"I'm sure this changes everything. I'm also sure that if in fact there was a buyer, he would have much rather had the place keep running to supply the customers.
"At the end of the day, if there's a buyer out there willing to work with the union, we're certainly willing to work with them."
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said his first concern is for the workers and the impact the closing will have on their lives.
He's asked the Sarnia- Lambton Economic Partnership to inquire if there's a role it can play, adding he will follow up to see that workers "get fair compensation and are properly treated by the company and the courts."
The insulation plant has operated on Scott Road for many years under a number of owners.
"There's a long history of this plant struggling, going back to Holmes Insulation and Partek," Bradley said.
"I can recall back in the 1990s being involved in efforts to keep it alive with new ownership."
The plant was losing money under the ownership of the Finnish company Partek Insulations when it was purchased in 1996 by an American buyer and renamed Fibrex.
In 2000, Fibrex was named a winner of an Ontario Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Business Achievement Award.
Garant, who just recently took over responsibility for the bargaining unit at Fibrex, said he spoke with the plant manager Tuesday on another matter.
"He gave me no indication whatsoever that this was forthcoming, and I don't believe he knew, to be honest."
Bradley said he heard from a source that "it seemed there was a host of issues that forced them into receivership."
Sarnia-Lambton has experienced the same decline of manufacturing jobs that has hit other Ontario communities over the last generation, Bradley said.
"That's why we've focused so much on trying to rebuild the chemical sector, the biofuels sector, the alternative energy sector, because that's where the future job growth is going to come," he said.
"That's just being realistic about what's happening to the manufacturing sector in Ontario."
pmorden@theobserver.ca