The Working Press, Volume 5, Number 2, May 1990: Smith Corona layoffs

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6 185

Free

Tompkins-Cortiang Labor Coalition
Volume 5. Number 2 Ithaca ang Cortlang, NY
rare Cli args
PRESERVAT;
COPy
ORIGINAL

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Smith Corona’s March la
Yoff of
350 Cortland Workers brings the
total number of layoffs to at least

there are NOW 135 employees still
on the Payroll, but ¢ ej

[: inside the Plant tha

; May get pink Slips j May.
PRESERVATION i Workers ‘fear that the 8s oe
copy x might entirely close down the
e Cortland Site by the end of the year.
ORIGINAL ae At the Same time, Smith Corona ©
DESTROYED = has hired 300 a itional workers

Singapore. The Cortland layoffs
| raise some Very tr

| ry intentions of a firm which has

y benefits from YU. - citizens?
I Net Sales In d
S Smith Corona Justified the

a Se i a) are Saas Ce ran

ae i Rea ;

PSI AY aia,

| questions about the Policies and.

* Company, if it has one, would seem

million, UP 25% from 1988, ang
operating income of $88.2 million,
UP 31% from 1988. Moreover, the

and electronic typewriters had
been Steadily falling as a Percent
of sales. In short, the future of the

Processors rather than the basic
typewriters.

While the company claimed
that in 1989 it had achieved
“increased Penetration of world
markets,” there was a note about
the need to further reduce manu-
facturing costs, and the statement,

ominous for Cortland Workers,
continued on Page 8

Wiha aal btiet eure sini Dy ae es Ue

wn &
im)

“1h Na

TES d

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action suits in federal district

Layoffs

continued from page 1

that Smith Corona “may increase
the number of products that it
manufactures abroad in the
future.” Sincé the company says
its Singapore plant, leased from
the government until April 2033, is
primarily used for the personal
word processor as well as the
electronic typewriter businesses,
the most logical inference is that
the company does intend to cut
costs by shifting jobs to Singa-
~ pore,and perhaps also to a rumored
assembly line in Mexico, if it has
not already done so.

The layoffs at Smith Corona
Provide an ironic commentary on
the company’s status as a Foreign
Trade Zone (subzone 90A), which
was granted through the efforts of
Congressman Sherwood Boehlert
on July 1,1985. Trade Zone status
allows Smith Corona to import
components duty free, work on

them at the Cortland Site, and then
Sell the Products in the U.S. or re-
export them with a reduced tariff
Taxpayers subsidize the company
in this Way in order to Protect
American Jobs. In a letter which
Smith orona, sent to the
Chairman of the House Subcom.
Mittee on Trade, dated 10/27/89, the

workers recently.

received no advance warning of
layoff. They were simply told not

exception of the Cort-
land employees, ql]

the
workers employed by

manufacturing

One of the SCM Cortland plants where the company laid off 350

at least 100 employees in case of
mass layoffs or plant closings. If
the law has been violated, the firm

made liable for 60-days back pay

reporter f, the Cort] -
ard that lagi ar es
*RESERVATig ,
Copy
ORIGINAY
BESTRO VED

courts and chancery court over the
layoffs of 450 people in Cortland
and Singapore which the company
announced August 11th, eight days
after the firm issued stock for the
reorganized Smith Corona Corp-
oration. The lawsuits allege that
the company “omitted material
facts and made untrue statements
of material facts related to the
company’s reduction in workforce
levels in Cortland and Singa-
pore.”

Cortland only non-union plant
Many of the laid-off workers at
Smith Corona have expressed
regret that they did not organize a
union when they had the chance.
One worker who was interviewed
said that in 1983 several people
talked about bringing in a union,
and company representatives told
workers if they were caught doing
that they would automatically be
fired. Workers were also sur-
prised to learn that, with the single
exception of the Cortland em-
Ployees, all the manufacturing
workers employed by Smith
Corona, including those in Singa-
pore, are unionized,

non-union status did not help keep
the jobs in Cortland, and a union

might have helped

get advance
notice and Protect sen

lority,

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company stated “Smith Corona
Corporation was an American
company on the brink of extinction
due to a large influx of low-priced
foreign competition. With its
return to profitability and ever
increasing sales, production
demands increased, employment
increased, and orders for domestic
material increased.”
Although Smith Corona is not
strictly an American company,
being largely owned by the British
holding company Hanson Plc, it
may be true that the Trade Zone
Program was instrumental in
restoring the company to profita-
bility. Unfortunately, there is no
quid pro quo in the program which
requires a beneficiary to guaran-
tee employment to the workers
whose jobs are supposed to be
protected. Smith Corona says it
has returned to “profitability and
ever increasing sales,” but since
that letter was written the firm has
laid off between 500 and 600 Cort-
land workers. Smith Corona’s
plans to cut manufacturing costs
suggest that it will actually become
the “low-priced foreign compe-
tition” threatening local jobs,
rather than a worthy recipient of
public benefits.

Yederal WARN Law violated?
~The manner in which Smith
Aorahas laid off employees is:at
Lag ‘disturbing ‘as the
Ment loss. Many workers

ORIGINAL
pESTROYED

Corona, in-
those wn
are

Smith

cluding
Singapore,
unionized.

to punch in, or to go home, after
they came to work. Other workers
got two days notice, and a few got
seven days notice, for a layoff they
were told would be “permanent,
with no recall.” The lack of notice
was especially severe because
since January 8th all of the
Smith Corona employees (except
for maintenance workers) had
been on a state-sponsored work
share program which subsidizes
wages with unemployment bene-
fits charged against the 26-week
eligibility period. Thus, laid-off
workers, many of whom appar-
ently did not realize they were
using up unemployment benefits
by participating in a program they
believed would prevent layoffs,
suddenly found that they had only
about 15 weeks of benefits
remaining.

The Tompkins-Cortland Labor
Coalition is investigating whether
Smith Corona violated federal law
by not giving workers 60-days
advance notice of layoff. Under
the Worker Adjustment and
Retraining Notification (WARN)

~ Act, such notice must normally, be:

given by employers in firms with

supporter” of the Plant Closing
law, suggesting that since only
19% of the work force had been laid
off the law had not been violated.
In fact, under certain circum-
stances, a layoff of that size,
without notification, could violate
the law, but that issue must finally

The ... Labor Coali—
tion 1s investigating
whether Smith
Corona violated fede—
ral law by not giving
workers 60-days ad-
vance notice of layoff.

be settled through an investigation
and possibly a lawsuit. The legal
issue aside, it is rather surprising
to hear that a “strong supporter” of
the WARN law would not feel
obligated to provide any of the 750
workers laid off since August with
something more than minimal
notice, and in some cases no
notice, of layoff.

The argument that manage-
ment had no knowledge of
impending layoffs and so was
unable to warn employees does not
sound convincing to Cortland
workers. Neither is it convincing
to company. shareholders who are
suing Smith Corona in 17 class

-~Go-Lee Thompson says that
Smith Corona has been “one of the
most responsible corporate citizens
for more than 100 years,” but the
Smith Corona workers don’t seem
to share that view. Those who were
interviewed said things like
“Smith Corona is a veTy unfair
company.” “Smith Corona treats
their employees like dirt.” “Smith
Corona really does whatever they
want.” The only person who was
interviewed for this article who
defended the company was Melvin
Pierce, the Town of Cortlandville
supervisor, who said that he would
not criticize a company that kept so
many people off welfare. If Smith
Corona does finally move every-
thing to Singapore even that
argument of despair will be
gone.& :

Laid-off Smith Corona
workers who would
like to help -in deter-
mining whether or not
the company violated
the federal plant
closing laws should
contact the Labor
Coalition at 277-5670.

ee shea