PACIFIC STEEL CASTING TO LAY OFF HALF IT’S WORKFORCE

[Omaha Steve]

http://gangbox.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/pacific-steel-casting-to-lay-off-half-its-workforce-300-iron-molders-to-lose-their-jobs-in-berkeley-california/

PACIFIC STEEL CASTING TO LAY OFF HALF IT’S WORKFORCE – 300 iron molders to lose their jobs in Berkeley, California
Posted in Uncategorized by gangbox on the July 19, 2009

from the BERKELEY DAILY PLANET:

Pacific Steel Lays Off Half Its Work Force
By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday July 16, 2009

West Berkeley’s Pacific Steel Casting, the nation’s fourth largest surviving steel foundry, is hurting badly.

Company spokesperson Eliza-

beth Jewel told the Daily Planet Friday that a weak economy was playing havoc with its sales, forcing the steel plant to cut half its workforce.

The foundry, which has been operating at Second and Gilman streets for 75 years, has laid off a couple of hundred workers in the last seven months, including 40 in June, and announced that another 75 layoffs are on the way, sometime after Aug. 31. Pacific Steel had about 600 workers on its payroll until earlier this year; the cuts will leave the company with just 300.

Management positions have also been eliminated, she said.

The company, founded in 1934, is suffering low sales in part because one of its biggest customers, the Peterbilt Motors Company, has drastically reduced orders.

“They were a longtime, consistent customer,” she said. “We can only hope that the economy will turn around as quickly as possible, and people will start ordering trucks once again.”

FULL story at link.