J.L. French workers get slips

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January 3, 2009

Face indefinite layoffs as auto manufacturing slows

By GINA KINSLOW The Glasgow Daily Times Sat Jan 03, 2009, 02:37 PM CST

Michelle Smith thought her job was secure so she moved ahead with plans to buy a house with her boyfriend.

What she wasn’t expecting was a letter from the company where she works notifying her she was being laid off indefinitely. The letter is dated Dec. 26.

Smith works for J.L. French Automotive Castings Inc., which manufactures high pressure die cast aluminum components and assemblies.

The letter read: “I regret that you are receiving this letter as written notification that your lay off status is being extended indefinitely due to a reduction in product demands from our customers.” It was signed by Judi Kreusser, human resource manager.

Smith believed she would still have a job after the company’s regularly scheduled holiday shutdown was over based upon a meeting she and other employees attended prior to the plant closing for the holidays.

“They had taken us into a plant meeting right before we got laid off and told us that we were not losing our jobs,” she said.

The employees were told they were being transferred from one J.L. French plant to another in Glasgow, and that they would be returning to work on Jan. 12.

In addition to the letter she received, Smith also got a document notifying her that her life insurance would be terminated on Dec. 19 and her health and dental insurance on Dec. 29. The document was dated Dec. 23.

“We won’t get our holiday pay. We won’t get our vacation days we paid in this year. So, we’re not getting anything,” she said.

Smith said she has tried to speak to company officials about the situation, but her phone calls have not been returned.

“They won’t speak to us,” she said. “We’ve called out there.”

A press release issued Friday afternoon stated that the plant was “forced to enact layoffs in addition to its regularly scheduled holiday shutdown” due to a reduction in production schedules. “These reductions are a direct response to the unforeseen cancellation of production schedules at Ford, GM and Chrysler. Many of these customer plants are shut down the last two weeks in December, which is a typical automotive shutdown cycle. It was recently announced however that many of those customer plants will not be running or may be running at reduced schedules for January. J.L. French-Glasgow’s orders have fallen off significantly as a result.”

The press release also said that the schedule reductions were not expected.

“As orders increase, J.L. French will bring back employees currently on lay off status as required. Most employees are scheduled to return to work on Monday, Jan. 12,” the press release said.

Phone calls to Kreusser; and Steve Schrader, general manager, were not immediately returned Friday.

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