7 months ago
A Cochran plant will lose about 500 jobs this year.
That's according to William Tyrone Hill, head of the Cochran local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The Lithonia Lighting Co. plant told workers Tuesday about changes coming to the plant, says Racquel Wright, spokeswoman for the parent company, Acuity Brands Inc.
She wouldn't say Monday how many jobs would be cut or how many people work at the plant now.
Hill, president and business agent of the union local, says they'll lose 500 jobs in three phases, releasing workers in April, June and September. He says 80 percent of them are headed to the company's plants in Mexico.
He says he was blindsided by the announcement.
"They gave us this form of what their plans are, and that was it," he said.
Wright wouldn't discuss details of the restructuring, but says the plant will stay open. She said the job cuts were "not major" and would affect about half the plant's workforce.
Hill says the company will keep on about 215 employees, but managers, plant workers and cafeteria employees are up for the layoffs.
He says about 75 percent of the union is made of single parents, and losing their jobs means losing the only breadwinner in the home.
"We got a lot of husbands and wives that works out there together. We got a lot of family members that live in the same household that work out there that will be impacted as well."
Hill says he'll meet with the company to discuss the union's contract next week, but until then he plans to reach out to government officials to see if there's anything anyone can do to help save jobs.
