Bayer CropScience to lay off 200 at Institute plant - WOWK 13 Charleston, Huntington WV News, Weather, Sports

Bayer CropScience to lay off 200 at Institute plant

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More than 200 employees at a Kanawha Valley chemical plant are being laid off.

Bayer CropScience announced July 9 it is permanently ceasing all operations at several production units at its Institute plant and will terminate most employees who work there.

The layoffs are part of the planned terminations the company announced last year when it announced it was going to stop making aldicarb.

The company issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, also known as a WARN notice, to its employees and county leaders. 

In the letter, Steven Hedrick, the vice president for the Institute Industrial Park, said the first phase of the terminations will begin Sept. 7 and continue through the rest of the year. He said there are "no bumping rights."

The first phase of terminations will include 163 jobs, according to the letter. Those jobs include distribution specialists, operators, general mechanics and other types of specialized mechanics.

Layoffs are expected to continue throughout the rest of the year.

A voluntary lay-off incentive program currently being offered, as well as usual attrition, is expected to account for some of the reduction, according to a statement released Monday night from Bayer CropScience officials.

"We understand the uncertainty and difficulty the employment reduction will cause those affected," said Steve Hedrick, Vice President and Head of the Institute Industrial Park. "We intend to approach this action in an equitable and sensitive manner, ensuring timely and transparent communication with all of our employees."

The statement also included reminder about safety at the facility. "As always, safety remains our foremost priority, especially during a transition time such as this," said Hedrick. "We intend to preserve the jobs of those employees with the critical operating skills needed to ensure continued safe production at the site."