The Utica (NY) Dispatch reports that $4.2 million in state and local aid and 100 jobs announced this week for Remington Arms won’t replace all of the 160 workers eliminated in the past 14 months.
In announcing the grants and potential loan for the private company earlier this week, state and local officials did not discuss how employment levels at the Remington plant dropped from about 960 in February 2007 to slightly lower than 800 now.
Plant and union officials attributed the job losses to improvements in the gun-making manufacturing process, retirements and unfilled positions.
With the new $14.3 million renovation and the transfer of 100 jobs from the Harrington and Richardson Firearms plant in Massachusetts, Remington’s new employment level should reach 900, company officials said.
The plant’s payroll is $32 million, and jobs there impact the families of its 800 workers and several hundred others at local businesses.
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x883024303
