TWO MORE WV PLANTS GO DOWN - More Fears Over Losing Pensions

(04/14/2004)

The layoff of 75 workers at Royce Hosiery marks the end of an era in Martinsburg. The company announced it will let the workers go and stop making socks and leg wear in Martinsburg. The company business office will remain in West Virginia. Globalization has closed the Flexsys plant in Nitro. Flexsys is closing its last rubber chemical production unit, with over 200 people losing their jobs. Retirees from Flexsys and its predecessors are worrying about their pensions. "Losing industrial jobs devastates these communities. They are the only good-paying jobs with benefits," said Nitro Mayor Rusty Casto. George Atkins, who worked at the plant for 15 years, said "When Monsanto sold to Flexsys, they sold all the [pension] rights of the men." Twenty years ago the chemical industry in Kanawha County employed about 15,000 people. That number has dropped to about 3,300. The chemical industry jobs were the highest wages paid by any industry in the state. West Virginia retirees are losing pensions and health benefits, especially when their companies go out of business or file bankruptcy, like retirees from Weirton Steel, Kaiser Aluminum in Ravenswood and coal companies across the state.

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