THE WERNER CO. Ladder maker announces plan to cut more jobs

Job cuts will reach more than 1,000 here and in Alabama.
THE VINDICATOR
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- The Werner Co. says Home Depot's decision to buy ladders from China and Mexico will cost Werner employees an additional 530 jobs.
The cuts won't come here, but in Alabama, where Werner announced it will close its Anniston Division Manufacturing and Distribution Operation.
The shutdown will be done in phases and completed by the first quarter of 2005. It will result in the loss of 440 hourly and 90 salaried positions, said John Guyton, Werner's director of human resources.
He pointed the finger squarely at Home Depot, which, he said, has decided not to buy Werner ladders anymore but is buying ladders made in China and Mexico instead.
Chris Gronkiewicz, a Home Depot spokeswoman, said it "was strictly a business decision on our part. It was in the best interest of our customers."
The loss of that business, combined with increasing competitive cost pressures in the overall market, led to the decision to close Anniston, Guyton said.
The news came just 11 months after Werner announced it was closing its ladder manufacturing operation here, a move that cost 450 hourly and 50 salaried jobs.
Low-cost producers in China and Mexico and Home Depot's decision to start buying ladders from those manufacturers were cited as a factor in that shutdown as well.
The company said at the time that it planned to move those operations to lower-cost facilities and later announced it would move part of its own ladder production operation to Juarez, Mexico, to make ladder parts.
Still in Greenville
The company maintains both its headquarters, with about 275 employees, and an aluminum extrusion operation, employing 275 more, in Greenville.
Current Anniston Division Extrusion Products customers will be served out of the Greenville plant.
The company had 2,300 employees nationwide before announcing the Anniston closing. That number will now drop below 1,800. The company also has plants in Chicago; Merced, Calif.; and Carrollton, Ky.
Mike Wise, general manager at Anniston, said the decision to close the facility had nothing to do with the work force.
"The market demands have forced the company to reduce their cost structure," he said, adding that the company will work with employees, local representatives and government agencies to secure all available benefits and programs for those losing their jobs.