WALKER'S 300 JOBS LEAVING - Kanawha Valley Has Lost 10,000 Chemical Jobs

(11/09/2004)

Several Calhoun workers will be losing their jobs at Walker Systems in Williamstown. The first phase of permanent "layoffs" will take place during the next three weeks, starting Friday. About 150 will be gone by the end of November. About 235 hourly and 75 salaried workers will be losing their jobs, with about a dozen expected to take jobs at other facilities. The final layoffs are expected to occur in March of 2005. The second round will begin the first week of December. The Walker-Wiremold Company, owned by a French-based conglomerate, will likely shift the operations abroad. The company said it plans to consolidate its operations to reduce costs. A Charleston seminar last week focused on the nearly 10,000 chemical jobs that have vanished in the Kanawha Valley since 1980, wiped out mostly by automation and cheaper foreign production. Meanwhile, unemployment figures are looking good for West Virginia.

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