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Parker Hannifin, USW meet to discuss closing Youngstown plant
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin and the United Steel Workers Local 2332 met Wednesday to discuss closing the hydraulic gear pump plant on Intertech Drive.
Weakness in a variety of markets the plant serves from construction to oil and gas and an increase in global competition led the company to consider closing the plant at 2701 Intertech Drive within 18 months, said Aidan Gormley, Parker Hannifin director of corporate communications.
Though the closing is not official, the company, at this point, sees no other viable option.
The plant has 137 employees, and 107 of those employees are union workers, the company said.
There is another Parker Hannifin location on Logan Avenue in Youngstown that is not affected by the potential closing of the Intertech Drive plant.
The union and the company will continue to meet to discuss the closing.
Work at the plant, about 40 percent, would go to a North Carolina Parker Hannifin pump plant, and 60 percent would be outsourced to other Parker Hannifin locations that have not been decided upon, Gormley said.
Jose Arroyo, business representative of the United Steel Workers District 1, was at the meeting Wednesday morning.
“I would say the people at the facility, because of the downturn, they started seeing the slowing of business,” Arroyo said. “We were hoping the market would rebound and they would recommit here in Youngstown.”
To him, and others, it seems closing the plant is the only option in the company’s mind.
“We feel like this decision has already been made,” he said. Arroyo said Wednesday there will be another meeting with the company next week.