Bayer Cuts 40 Jobs
Closure of resins operations adds to Wetzel County woesBy CASEY JUNKINS and SHELLEY HANSON
Article Photos
NEW MARTINSVILLE - Wetzel County's already considerable unemployment woes are taking another hit - this time with the planned closure of Bayer MaterialScience's resins operations in New Martinsville.
The plant's Coatings, Adhesives and Specialties resins operations is scheduled to close at the end of this year, leaving 40 people jobless. Bayer spokesman Sean Kelly declined Friday to disclose exactly why the closure was occurring, noting only that it was part "of ongoing global restructuring initiatives" at Bayer.
"Sourcing of these products will be consolidated into various existing world scale facilities. These facilities are located in Europe, Asia and the U.S.," Kelly said.
The employees were notified Thursday about losing their jobs. A news release notes the workers "will have the opportunity to explore employment within other parts of the company." Kelly said none of the 40 workers have yet to relocate. And about 260 remain at the plant.
Kelly declined to disclose: the amount of money the company would save because of the closure; the salaries of those positions; or whether more layoffs or closures were planned in New Martinsville or other Bayer facilities.
Because of the impending loss of 40 positions, Wetzel County's jobless numbers seem likely to increase through the end of 2009 - a fact not lost to New Martinsville Mayor Lucille Blum. The county's unemployment rate for the month of June was already at 14.3 percent.
"With Bayer announcing another layoff today, things will be getting even tougher," she said Friday.
The average unemployment rate for 10 local counties is now 12 percent, due to 1,910 more local workers filing jobless claims in June than in May. And with companies like Bayer, PPG Industries, Columbian Chemicals Co. and Ormet Corp. shedding jobs, workers in Wetzel County and throughout the region are finding it is more difficult to secure employment.
According to statistics provided by WorkForce West Virginia and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Service, Wetzel County's 14.3 percent unemployment rate for June is up from 11.4 percent in May. The number is more than double the county's unemployment rate of 7 percent for June 2008.
The statewide unemployment rate for West Virginia has now reached 9.4 percent, its highest since the 1983 average of 17.4 percent.
Ohio's current statewide jobless rate is 11.2 percent.
The unemployment news is particularly harsh for New Martinsville and Wetzel County - and Blum does not see it getting better anytime soon.
"I expect that rate to go even higher because so many people who have lived here have worked in industry. ... I believe these companies are going to continue reducing jobs here for the foreseeable future," she said.
Noting the loss of industry has been particularly harsh over the past few years, Blum said this is just a fact of life with which the community must cope.
"I do not see a revival in industry here. ... It is a fact of life that the economy has changed here, and will continue to change," she said.
"Life is about change. You can either change with the times, or get swept away by the change," Blum added.
Although she believes the economic transition is inevitable, Blum said the loss of industrial jobs is handicapping the city's coffers.
"We are seeing considerable changes to our city budget right now. ... We have not yet cut employees or services, but we may be forced to do that in the future," she said.
"We also have seen some businesses close here recently. There are now several empty homes because the people who lived in those homes have been forced to leave the area, and no one can afford to buy them," she said.
Blum said the job losses also impact the amount of money that can go to helping the poor.
"It is difficult to run a soup kitchen now. When you can't help those who need help, it is really a problem," she said.
Although Blum does not foresee an industrial renaissance for New Martinsville and the region, she said city leaders are doing the best they can to move the city in a positive direction.
"We are working to develop our riverfront area into a recreation area and tourist attraction. Developing the riverfront can provide us a fresh start as we move forward," she said.
As companies like Bayer continue reducing operations, Blum said communities like New Martinsville must cope the best they can.
"In this community, we have a long history of drawing together to deal with challenging times, and this is what we have to do now," she said.
Bayer's New Martinsville site is expected to continue manufacturing polyurethanes raw materials used in the tool, medical, automobile and sporting goods industries.
The resins operation manufactures materials for use in the furniture, construction and automobile industries.
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BurningUp07
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07-27-09 12:52 PM
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West Virginia is basically like a third world country within the United States. Only desperate companies come here. Companies that want to pay low wages and go where it's cheap to set up shop at. Why do you think there are so many telemarketing jobs and places like Teletech/AT&T around here.
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BurningUp07
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07-27-09 11:17 AM
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Yep Alabama is a right-to-work state as well, and look at all the manufacturing jobs it has in such a small radius. I know of a woman that works down there and she makes really good money as a fairly normal blue collar worker at one of the factories.
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EllisWyatt
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07-27-09 7:03 AM
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Cas1953 You wouldn't know that Right to Work states are getting all of the new manufacturing and that their workers are earning $50,000 + per year, with benefits, given all the union propaganda in this area. The unions want you to believe that you cannot get a good paying job without them. I'm hear to say that, outside of construction, which is protected by cowardly politicians, a union will LIMIT your chances of good paying jobs. Unions want their dues money so that they can spend $300 million supporting Social Democrats come election time. They are dinosaurs and they are afraid to admit it. RIGHT TO WORK. NOW.
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CAS1953
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07-27-09 12:02 AM
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I MOVED TO ALABAMA 38 YEARS AGO. EVERY TIME I RETURN TO HOME TO MOUNDSVILLE TO VISIT MY FAMILY,I CAN'T BELEIVE HOW DEPRESSING IT IS TO RETURN TO A CITY THAT HAS LOST ALL OF IT'S MAGIC! THE UNION'S WERE WONDERFUL WHEN I WAS A KID! THEY ARE NOW DEAD WEIGHT ON ANY MANUFACTURER CONSIDERING LOCATING IN THE US. WE NOW HAVE 5 CAR MOANUFATURING PLANT'S WITHIN 35 MILES OF BIRMINGHAM WHERE EMPLOYEES AVERAGE TWENTY SIX DOLLARS PER HOUR JOBS. IT'S SAD TO SEE MY OLD FRIENDS WORKING AT McDONALDS. THE BEST THING THE VALLEY COULD DO IS TO REMOVE ALL OF THE ELECTED IDIOT'S THAT THEY KEEP PUTTING IN TO OFFICE,STARTING WITH,SEN. BYRD? YOU HAVE TO HAVE NEW PEOPLE WITH NEW IDEA'S TO SPARK A RE-BIRTH OF THE AREA. WE TO HAVE CABELLA'S,HOWEVER,WE DO NOT DEPEND ON IT AS A TOURIST ATTRACTION? IT'S AMAZING AT THE AMOUNT OF WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINERS LIVING IN ALABAMA. I PROMISE YOU,THEY DO NOT WANT TO MOVE BACK TO MOUNDSVILLE,WHEELING AREA. I HOPE AND PRAY THAT YOU WILL WAKE UP!
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BurningUp07
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07-26-09 11:34 PM
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Ten out of the top 13 states in CNBC's report are right-to-work states. Including the state that ranked #1 state Virginia. West Virginia is of course pretty much dead last in the rankings, what a disgrace.
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PCGS70
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07-26-09 9:59 PM
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We can HOPE can't we?
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PCGS70
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07-26-09 9:59 PM
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We can HOPE can't we?
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WVEXPAT
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07-26-09 4:32 PM
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In the "Workforce category" they ranked 48th. The CNBC study rated states based on the education level of their workforce, as well as the numbers of available workers. We also considered union membership. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, doesn’t resonate with business. We also looked at the relative success of each state’s worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs." You can google "America's Top States for Business 09" for the full article.
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WVEXPAT
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07-26-09 4:29 PM
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CNBC recently ranked Americas top states for doing business in 2009. Here are the criteria they used to determine the results; - Cost of Doing Business - Workforce - Quality of Life - Economy - Transportation - Technology & Innovation - Education - Business Friendliness - Access to Capital - Cost of Living WV ranking 46th out of 50 and in the key criteria "Business Friendliness" they ranked dead last (50th). About this category CNBC stated "Regulation and litigation are the bane of business. Sure, some of each is inevitable. But we graded the states on the perceived “friendliness” of their legal and regulatory frameworks to business."
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EllisWyatt
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07-26-09 4:02 PM
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nosmart What does Wal-Mart have to do with jobs disappearing at Bayer? Instead of blaming a store, which gets its' goods in the same places as Target, K-Mart, Costco, Sears, JC Penney, Cabelas, American Eagle, Old Navy, Gap and Macys, try putting the blame where it belongs-with YOU. YOU, and all other "voters" have continued to vote in stooges year after year. You didn't want to hear about anything that would hurt your union. You didn't look at the big picture. Why don't you ask state government why it won't push for an Open Shop? Why don't you demand tort reform? Why not tax reform? Why don't you encourage your fat neighbors to stop riding the carts around Kroger and actually walk? What employer will locate to West Virginia, with B&O taxes, corrupt government, militant unions and nine-figure jury awards awaiting them?
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Wheeldog
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07-26-09 2:30 PM
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It's time to stop pointing fingers of blame and wringing your hands in despair at the plight of the economy. It's over - and it is not coming back! Stop waiting for someone or something to make everything right again. It is not going to happen. No political party, televangelist or snake oil salesman is going to wave a magic wand and click his heels three times to return us to the World of Oz Consumerism. Start cutting back and figuring out how people got through tough times back in the 1930s. Most of all, work with your neighbors and others to share the load of developing a sustainable lifestyle.
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good4u
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07-26-09 9:00 AM
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THEY TOOK OUR JOBS!!
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1madmamma
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07-26-09 8:16 AM
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The New Martinsville plant has been sold out by it's own. Too many incompetent people working at the top. This unit is heading to Georgia and was pulled out right under the noses of the top officials in NM. Where is our hometown made Bayer CEO at to stop this. Making his millions in Pittsburgh. Must have amnesia as to where he got his start. Wake up people!
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Psylocke
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07-25-09 10:04 PM
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In less than 10 years there will be nothing left but medical, retail and restaurant jobs, two of which do not have an income you can survive on. This place isn't going to turn around any time soon. If they haven't found the answer by now who says they will in the near future? Tourism? Are you kidding me? What big tourism draws do we have? Oglebay park? Riverfront? Highland/Cabala's? That's not going to save us.
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Wheeldog
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07-25-09 8:50 PM
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The article is sprinkled with assurances that this loss of jobs will somehow be overcome and the region will continue to prosper. That is "pie in the sky" talk. The loss of an important industry sets off a chain reaction of job and income losses that radiate through the total economy. It is an economic domino effect. It should be expected that other income generating industries and businesses will follow suit. It is time to face the facts; the age of massive consumerism is ending. The future is always an unknown, but it seems safe to expect a life that will more closely resemble the way people lived at the turn of the 20th Century. That was when most people bought only what they needed and made things last. It will be a wrenching transition for most, but it is inevitable.
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nosmart
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07-25-09 1:05 PM
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yep go get the cheap stuff at walley world. whats you gona do when the unemployment extenions run out maybe a new bread of goat farmers in them hills in wetzel co. or do china make it cheaper?
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mclovin
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07-25-09 10:20 AM
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Great! Another riverfront development project. Tourism, too. I may be wrong, but I think everybody is trying to leave. Mayor Blum is correct about one thing. There will be no industrial revival. But what direction is positive?
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acmooregov
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07-25-09 9:06 AM
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Worked at Bayer some years back (could see the hand writing on the wall) it will be closed by 2013. Might be located in Marshall County but the majority of the workers live South of the plant. Does it really matter where these 40 people live, that probably average 60k plus in wage? The bottom-line is people are losing the "good" jobs in the valley and being replaced by ChinaMart type jobs! The Ohio Valley party will soon be over.
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homer1
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07-25-09 5:35 AM
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The 40 people who are going to lose their jobs may be from Wheeling. I wish the CUB REPORTERS would be a little more creative.
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einsteen
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07-25-09 12:20 AM
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Bayer is in MARSHALL county -as is Columbian and PPG.Ormet is in another state.
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