Trico Announces Layoffs at Two Texas Plants

Trico, an international wiper manufacturer with operations in Brownsville and Matamoros, TX, has laid off hundreds of employees to offset losses resulting from an ailing automotive industry. The high price of gasoline and the housing market slump has taken its toll on the automotive industry and its suppliers. Trico, which supplies 70 auto assembly plants a week, is feeling the ripple effect of the downturn, according to Martin Kennedy, vice president and managing director of the Americas for Trico.

From The Brownsville Herald

BROWNSVILLE, TX — Trico, an international wiper manufacturer with operations in Brownsville and Matamoros, TX, has laid off hundreds of employees to offset losses resulting from an ailing automotive industry.

The high price of gasoline and the housing market slump has taken its toll on the automotive industry and its suppliers. Trico, which supplies 70 auto assembly plants a week, is feeling the ripple effect of the downturn, according to Martin Kennedy, vice president and managing director of the Americas for Trico. As a result, Kennedy said, the company has permanently cut 39 jobs in Brownsville and has plans to layoff an additional 50 due to declining auto sales. The Matamoros location has fared far worse, suffering permanent losses between 230 and 250 employees.

"It’s an unfortunate part of the business," Kennedy said. "None of us like it, but we have to react to the downturn."

The flagging automotive market has not been kind to Trico in recent years. Less than two years ago sales were up around $360 million, according to Kennedy, and sales are already down 20 percent compared to last year. Trico had around $300 million in sales last year, $160 in the original equipment manufacturing (OEM) market selling directly to Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, among others. The company also claims 40 percent of the North American after market with $140 million in sales to auto part retailers.

For its part the Brownsville Economic Development Council (BEDC) is doing what it can to stem any further hemorrhaging as part of BEDC’s expansion and retention program, said Gilbert Salinas, director of marketing and communications for BEDC.

"Trico has provided good, well-paying jobs and steady employment," Salinas said. "That’s what every community wants."

Entry level positions at Trico pay around $11 per hour and certain skilled trades can earn well over $20 per hour, Kennedy said.

In the past decade the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation awarded Trico $638,000 and $258,000 for two separate job-creation incentives. Since Trico is only adjusting its operation in response to the volatile market no claw-back measures will be taken. Trico, which moved to Brownsville in 1986, is also hopeful that as soon as auto sales pick up it will hire back many of its former employees. The 39 employees who permanently lost their jobs were given a severance package and some medical coverage. "The other layoffs are positions we plan on hiring back as soon as the industry picks back up," Kennedy said.