Boardman’s General Extrusions auctions equipment to pay loans

By Don Shilling

BOARDMAN — General Extrusions auctioned much of its fabricating and finishing equipment Tuesday, making it unlikely that laid-off workers will be recalled, a union official said.

Joe Terlecky, president of Local 5145 of the United Steelworkers of America, said the Lake Park Road aluminum extruder was forced to auction equipment to repay bank loans.

Terlecky said the company has been struggling with slow sales for the past three years, with the latest hit coming from the downturn in the auto industry.

About 140 of the company’s 180 hourly workers have been laid off since last year, and about half of the 90 salaried workers are off the job, he said. However, General Extrusions said in a news release that the plant is still operating. It said the auction was for equipment that “is obsolete or seldom used” and that the sales were needed to raise capital.

Herbert Schuler Sr., company chairman, could not be reached to comment.

Terlecky said about 90 percent of the company’s fabricating equipment was tagged for sale, including machines that punch, cut and finish aluminum.

The company is keeping its extrusion presses running with a small crew of workers, he said.

In good times, the extrusion presses in Boardman and at a plant in Leetonia would produce long strips of aluminum. Additional work would be performed on these strips at the Boardman plant to prepare the aluminum for use in cars, computers or appliances.

Terlecky said, however, that General Extrusions has been cutting its costs by shipping the fabricating work to outside suppliers with lower wages, both in the Mahoning Valley and in other areas.

The union filed a grievance against the company, but an arbitrator ruled last week that General Extrusions could outsource the work because of its financial condition, Terlecky said.

He said the average wage at the Boardman plant is about $15 an hour.

The Leetonia plant is continuing to operate, but workers there are not unionized.

About 30 union members demonstrated Tuesday outside the Boardman plant.

Workers said they wanted to raise awareness about the company’s financial condition and ask for help from PNC bank, which they said holds the company’s loans.

Terlecky said it is unfair that the government has provided funds for the nation’s banks during the recent credit crisis, but funds aren’t available to help a longstanding manufacturing company such as General Extrusions.

“We don’t need another empty plant, and we don’t need more $8-an-hour jobs,” he said.

Fred Solomon, a PNC spokesman, said he could not comment on General Extrusions or even confirm that it was a customer. He said PNC is working with companies and made $900 million in small business loans in the third quarter of this year.

shilling@vindy.com