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300 electronics jobs cut Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Tyco employees say goodbye Friday to their co-workers in the parking lot behind the White City printed-circuit-board plant. Tyco is laying off about 300 employees in a move to consolidate the local plant with larger facilities in Dallas, Ore., and Utah. Tyco's closure in White City is biggest local layoff since Boise in '98 By DAMIAN MANN WHITE CITY - Tyco's printed-circuit-board plant will shut down permanently in six to eight weeks, and the company notified about 300 employees Friday that they are being laid off. In a companywide consolidation, Tyco announced it is also shutting down two of its California plants, in Fremont and Stockton. About 200 employees will be laid off at each of the facilities, bringing the total companywide layoffs to about 700, said Tyco spokeswoman Maryanne Kane. The White City plant closure is the largest layoff action in Jackson County since a fire at a Boise Cascade mill left about 400 people temporarily jobless in 1998. A document filed by the company with the state on Friday indicates 330 employees will eventually be laid off. This follows a February layoff of about 60 employees, bringing the total number of jobs lost to almost 400. The high-tech industry has fallen into a slump, with the semiconductor industry announcing a 7 percent decline in worldwide sales in March - the biggest decline ever recorded. But Kane said, "This is not a market reaction. We don't break it down that way. We're just looking at ways to work more efficiently." She said the White City plant was a midrange production facility and the company decided it would be more efficient to merge smaller operations into larger facilities. The consolidation, which will take about six to eight weeks, will reduce the number of plants companywide from 17 to 14, said Kane. After employees at the White City plant were notified of the layoffs, they hugged each other or shook hands in the company parking lot as they said goodbye. Some were told that it was their last day on the job. Others would help pack up equipment to ship to larger facilities in Dallas, Ore., and Utah. Both management and employees at White City declined to comment on the layoffs or the plant closure. Some employees said they had signed an agreement with the company in which they were prohibited from speaking to the media. Others were fearful that it could jeopardize their severance packages. But Kane said this is "categorically not true." "There is no language in the severance package to not talk to the press ... nor is it the company's policy to limit freedom of speech," she said. She said the employees have never been asked to sign any documents limiting their ability to speak to the press. In a prepared statement, the company said, "The decision in no way reflects upon the employees who have made a valuable contribution to the company over the years." It also said, "Employees will be offered comprehensive severance packages and outplacement assistance. We will do all we can to make the transition for the employees and the community as smooth as possible." Bambi Powers, program analyst for the Job Council, said, "With a reduction in force of this size, most companies are required to give workers a 60-day notice of an upcoming layoff, and that also means individuals would be paid through that time period." Workers are generally eligible to receive unemployment benefits after their severance packages run out, Powers said. A consortium of state and local agencies will be helping the employees find new jobs. Powers said this is the largest closure of an electronics industry that she is aware of in Jackson County. Litton's Applied Technology Division plant in Grants Pass closed in 1999, leaving as many as 175 employees jobless. Kane said Tyco would offer "limited transfer opportunities" to some employees, but she didn't know how many employees would receive this offer. John Anderson, labor economist for Oregon Employment Department, said, "The income impact could be considerable from a layoff of this size." The unemployment rate is fairly low at 5.9 percent in March, he said, compared to 6.8 percent last year. Anderson anticipates that the number of unemployed - currently about 5,300 in Jackson County - generally rises through the summer. He said some of the laid-off employees could find jobs fairly rapidly, while others might take a longer period of time. His department will also provide retraining, if necessary. Tyco Printed Circuit Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly held and Bermuda-based Tyco International Ltd., purchased Tualatin-based Praegitzer Industries in October 1999 for $72 million. Praegitzer's White City plant was one of four manufacturing facilities included in the deal. Praegitzer was founded in 1981 by timber magnate Robert Praegitzer, who acquired the White City plant in 1990 from Northwest Printed Circuits. Kane said she is unaware of any plans for the facility. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.