Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004
|
|
||
|
|
Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004
|
|
||
|
||
|
Bad
Links? |
‘Devastating’: Photocircuits shorts out
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com “Devastating” is how Fayette County Development Authority President Brian Cardoza described the Christmas week announcement that Photocircuits, the county’s second-largest private employer, will soon eliminate 90 percent of its local workforce. But Cardoza and other business leaders remain optimistic that the gradual elimination of nearly 600 jobs over the next nine months will make the loss easier to bear. Photocircuits said Friday it will reduce its Peachtree City operations starting in January in a move to consolidate operations near its headquarters in Glen Cove, N.Y. In a press release issued Friday, New York Gov. George Pataki announced that Photocircuits had decided against moving its base of operations and hundreds of jobs to Georgia. A generous incentive package offered by New York officials persuaded the company to instead expand on Long Island, where it already has more than 1,000 employees. The company’s employees in Peachtree City were told of the decision on Friday as well, said Scott Formel, who manages the Georgia operation. “There certainly was some disappointment,” Formel said on Monday. “They wished we were consolidating here rather than New York. But I would not say that this was a shock to our folks at all.” Photocircuits will keep a small presence in Peachtree City, with about 75 employees handling sales, service, distribution and some production work, Formel said. But a majority of the 717 people who work for the company, including 100 temporary employees, will be phased out over nine months starting in January. It was unclear how many of those would be offered transfers to New York, though Formel said they would be given that choice. “We told folks that if they were interested in moving to New York, we’d entertain that option,” Formel said, pointing out that as many as 100 of the workers in Peachtree City actually moved here from New York over the years. Photocircuits, which manufactures printed circuit boards, had been looking for some time to consolidate either in Georgia or New York, driven by the rising competition from Asian labor costs. Formel said employees were kept informed in every stage of the negotiations. Formel also is a member of the Development Authority of Peachtree City, the governmental entity charged with bringing in and keeping industries in the county’s only industrial park. The DAPC has been involved in a 2-year-long controversy with the Peachtree City Council and Mayor Steve Brown over its control of the city’s tennis center and amphitheater. Control of the venues was wrested from the DAPC last year and the board has almost entirely been reconstituted, with Formel a hold-over from the previous group. The closing announcement, made public one week before Christmas, brings to an end months of speculation and uncertainty for Photocircuits’ employees, who are scattered among four different buildings along Dividend Drive in Peachtree City’s industrial park. Photocircuits will vacate about 250,000 square feet of prime industrial space, which Cardoza said will be marketed to potential new businesses as soon as it is available. Like others, Cardoza said the news wasn’t a surprise. He had been working with local and state officials to try and convince the company to relocate all of its operations to Peachtree City — a move that could have doubled its local workforce. But Cardoza conceded there was no way Georgia officials could match the incentives offered by the New Yorkers, which included tax breaks, utility concessions and low-interest capital loans. Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown echoed that opinion. “To say it’s kind of unexpected, well we really can’t say that,” Brown said. “I was really surprised they stayed as long as they did.” Photocircuits is the biggest customer for the Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority, and will pay more than $414,000 in taxes this year, ranking it 5th on the list of Fayette County industries. Of that, about $63,000 is revenue due Peachtree City. But it was unclear Monday how great an impact the loss of more than 600 skilled, well-paying jobs will have on the Fayette County economy. The average salary for Photocircuits employees was $35,000 annually, Cardoza said. But nearly a third of the jobs to be phased out, or about 200, are actually held by residents of neighboring Coweta County. Just 122 workers live in Fayette County, and many of those are believed to be management positions that might be retained, Cardoza and others said. The remaining Photocircuits employees are scattered across 16 different counties, ranging from Meriwether with 52 employees to Butts with just one. Cardoza said state labor officials would concentrate on finding jobs for the workers who lived in the most far-flung, economically depressed counties first. Cardoza said he first contacted state officials about two months ago to alert them to the possibility of a Photocircuits departure. Formel said severance packages would be offered based on eligibility, and that programs have already been set in motion to address the needs of the employees. “We have already started discussions with the state to assist in the outplacement of the folks as they are gradually reduced,” Formel said. The timing of the announcement one week before Christmas was unfortunate, Formel admitted, but couldn’t be helped. “When New York came in on Thursday with their final deal and it was clear that was the direction we needed to go, we wanted to tell our employees as soon as possible,” Formel said. “It was the right thing to do. It will give them more time to prepare in the long run.” |
|
Copyright
2004-Fayette Publishing, Inc.
|
