From St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. LOUIS, MO — Two St. Louis area Federal-Mogul Corp. manufacturing plants will close by December, a union official said Friday.
The Southfield, MI-based maker of automotive parts and systems is closing two facilities — one in midtown St. Louis and the other in Berkeley, MO, — that make brake parts. A training center and administrative offices in Wellston, MO, are not affected.
The closures are part of plans announced last year to close 25 facilities and cut 10 percent of the company’s work force.
Federal-Mogul had informed the Missouri Department of Economic Development that layoffs at the midtown facility were to begin Thursday.
However, the layoffs at the midtown plant have yet to start, though the cuts would likely start soon and continue incrementally, said Roland Lewis, business agent for the Federal-Mogul hourly workers and a recording secretary for Teamsters union Local 688.
Lewis helped negotiate a closing agreement for the 240 hourly employees at the plant that dictated the final cuts would occur around December.
Federal-Mogul spokespersons did not return phone calls requesting more information about the cuts at midtown or Berkeley. The company hasn’t officially informed the state about layoffs at Berkeley, according to the latest information available.
On Friday, employees leaving the midtown location said there already have been job training sessions to help displaced workers find new jobs.
At the moment, the plant’s foundry and two machine shops are still operating, said an employee who declined to give his name.
Copyright (c) 2007, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
