Last Brass Mill in Connecticut Cuts 30 Jobs
By Marc Silvestrini, Waterbury Republican-American, Conn.
Dec. 21–Ansonia Copper & Brass Inc., Connecticut’s last surviving brass mill, has begun a round of layoffs that will cost about 30 workers their jobs.
Most of the job cuts will take place at the company’s main Ansonia plant, but a small number will take place at its Bank Street factory in Waterbury, said Raymond L. McGee, the company’s president and chief executive officer. The cuts will be made across all job descriptions and departments, McGee said.
A small number of job cuts were made last week, but the majority are expected to take place this week, he said.
The company employs between 200 and 210 workers at its Ansonia complex, which makes brass and copper-alloy rods and wire for the automotive, home appliance, shipbuilding and electronics industries. It employs another 50 people in Waterbury making copper and copper-alloy tubing used in nuclear-powered ships and submarines, and offshore drilling rigs.
The layoffs are a response to increased foreign competition and spiraling copper prices, which have forced customers in the automotive and construction industries to cut back on orders and slowdowns in the shipbuilding industry, McGee said Tuesday. Copper prices have increased from 75 cents per pound to $2.10 per pound in the past 18 months.
The company also lost business when damage caused by Hurricane Katrina forced Northrop Grumman’s Pascagoula, Miss., shipbuilding operation to close for several months, McGee said. The Pascagoula plant purchases about 30 percent of the copper and copper-alloy tubing Ansonia Copper sells, he said.
“We’ve been operating in a difficult environment for a while now — (lulls) in the shipbuilding and automotive industries, higher prices and foreign competition have all combined to lower orders,” McGee said. “I don’t view theses layoffs as permanent reductions in our work force. As soon as the business climate improves and orders pick up, we’ll be hiring people again.”
In a related development, the state Department of Labor said Tuesday the U.S. Department of Labor has approved a petition certifying all 263 Ansonia Copper & Brass employees as eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits if they are totally or partially separated from their jobs.
The program provides extra help to workers who lose their jobs due to foreign competition. Program benefits include job training assistance, and job search and relocation allowances for workers moving out of state for new employment under certain conditions. In addition, weekly cash benefits may be paid to eligible workers who are enrolled in an approved training program.
—–
To see more of the Waterbury Republican-American, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.rep-am.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, Waterbury Republican-American, Conn.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.