Photocircuits workers won’t let job loss ruin another Christmas

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Even on Christmas Eve, longtime employees of Photocircuits Corp. say the knowledge that 90 percent of them will lose their jobs in the coming months can’t put a damper on their holiday spirits.

“This isn’t about Christmas, and nobody inside is talking about Christmas,” said 21-year employee Stacey Stanley of Fayetteville, stepping outside Wednesday to take a break from her third-shift production job.

Exactly one week ago, Photocircuits finally gave almost 700 area workers the news they had been anticipating for months: Faced with rising competition from Asian markets, the circuit board manufacturer had decided to consolidate its North American operations nearer its headquarters in Glen Cove, N.Y., rather than Peachtree City.

The move means the elimination of about 600 jobs over the next nine months. This time next year, only 75 employees are expected to remain to handle sales, marketing and distribution for Photocircuits, which was Fayette County’s largest private employer six years ago when the number of workers neared 2,000.

Those days were short lived, however, and in recent years each new December seems to have brought discouraging news of some sort — layoffs, wage freezes or general uncertainty, employees said.

“For the last five years it hasn’t been very joyous around here during the holidays,” confessed Susan Gehlhaus of Peachtree City, a Photocircuits security officer for eight years. About six years ago, more than 100 workers were let go just two weeks before Christmas, she recalled.

At about the same time, interest in holiday fund drives to aid area needy families seemed to drop off. Employees used to give cheerfully and in abundance, Gehlhaus said, but not anymore.

“Now, we are the needy families,” she sighed.

But at least this December, workers no longer have to speculate about the future, several employees say.

“These folks that are still here have the best attitudes,” said Gehlhaus. “Many of them are just grateful they still have jobs for awhile longer.”

Though it ranks among the largest industries in Fayette County, the loss of jobs from Photocircuits is expected to have a greater impact in surrounding communities, where most employees live.

Photocircuits draws its workers from at least 18 different counties, said Brian Cardoza of the Fayette County Development Authority.

Leading the list is Coweta County, where about one-third of the company’s 617 full-time listed employees reside. The hometowns of another 100 temporary workers were not known.

Just 122 employees live in Fayette County, Cardoza said, and many of those are thought to be management positions that are more likely to be saved in the downsizing.

Some 58 employees commute from Spalding County, which ranks third on the list. The other top counties where Photocircuits workers reside include Fulton, 58; Meriwether, 52; Clayton, 43; Pike, 23; Upson, 12; Henry, 11, and Heard, 10.

Cardoza said the seven employees who commute about an hour from their homes in rural Talbot County to jobs at Photocircuits likely do so because of the good benefits and relatively high pay, which averages around $35,000 a year.

It will be hard for those employees to find comparable jobs closer to home. Located about 50 miles away along Ga. Highway 85 South toward Columbus, Talbot is mostly black and impoverished and considered one of the most economically disadvantaged counties in the state.

Cardoza, who has been in contact with the Georgia Department of Labor to begin setting up services for displaced workers, said those who live in counties like Talbot are most likely to get top priority in the new year.

Cardoza admitted that Fayette County is likely to absorb the loss of jobs fairly easily, given the widespread mix of jobs and opportunities that are already here.

Scott Formel, head of operations in Peachtree City for Photocircuits, said employees will be given the chance to apply for new jobs that are created in New York once the consolidation is underway, but they expect few to take up the offer.

Gehlhaus, a native of upstate New York, agreed.

“We have a lot of New Yorkers who’ve moved here, but they won’t want to move back,” she said. “The quality of life here is so much better.”

While Photocircuits will be vacating nearly 250,000 square feet of office and production space with the departure, Cardoza said those buildings on Dividend Drive in Peachtree City are highly marketable. On Monday, he already had an appointment to take a potential industrial client on a tour of the area. Without providing details, Cardoza said a decision by that company to locate in Fayette County would go a long way in easing any pain caused by Photocircuits.

In fact, Cardoza said two recent corporate relocations to Fayette County show the draw of the community. For example, Cooper Wiring Devices relocated its headquarters in September from the same area of New York where Photocircuits has decided to consolidate. The company now has about 120 employees here.


		Friday, Dec. 24, 2004