‘Lack of work’
VERONA — Longtime McQuay International worker Wayne Eutsler said he and others at the Verona production plant anticipated Wednesday’s announcement of 48 layoffs.
“There’s been talk because of the lack of work,’’ said Eutsler, a 16-year employee from Stuarts Draft who was not among those told that Friday would be his last day. “This is happening at a bad time for people. It is countrywide.”
Paula Greenhagen, a spokeswoman for Minneapolis-based McQuay, blamed the layoffs on the economic downturn.
The reduction in production jobs will slash by a fifth a workforce of 244. McQuay is Augusta’s seventh largest employer.
The company is also a major taxpayer, having been assessed more than $132,000 in taxes by Augusta this year on both the Verona real estate and machinery and tools inside the plant.
Dennis Burnett, Augusta County’s new economic development director, said the move represents “is a tough decision in this climate. We are fortunate we have good training programs through the Virginia Employment Commission and Blue Ridge Community College.”
Burnett said one of his goals is to make sure the county’s existing business and industry get all the support they need.
Augusta County Supervisor Tracy Pyles said while Augusta’s diverse economy will survive, it is a blow to the families of the affected McQuay employees.
“They will have no health insurance and not a lot of opportunities outside,’’ Pyles said.
Augusta County Supervisor Nancy Sorrells expressed confidence in Burnett and the county’s economy, and said “with the good retraining at Blue Ridge, hopefully those affected can find jobs quickly and be a factor in our workforce.”
The Verona industrial site where McQuay is located has a rich history, according to Burnett.
During the 1950s, the site served as a location for a Verona airport and later for a Westinghouse plant.
Burnett said the news about McQuay was not easy to deal with for him as a new county leader.
“McQuay is a very valued and longtime Augusta County employer,’’ he said.
A subsidiary of Daikin Industries, based in Osaka, Japan, McQuay last year landed an almost $15-million contract to supply air conditioning for the Freedom Tower to be built on the World Trade Center site in New York.
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Reader Reactions
McQuay used the negotiations to change a huge portion of the contract. The company now has the right to lay off useless non productive employees and not have to hire them back.
I also like seeing more senior lazy people layed off rather than the newer more ambitious ones who do their jobs. This is why they did mass hiring over the last couple months, had to train new ones before laying off the deadbeats!
Of course the motive here is to shut the plant down by Jan 1. The Japan bases owners were not happy with the ignorance of the employees through this negotiations. As well they were not happy with the management team who has continued to destroy the local facility over the past 10 years.
This plant has already been constructed and is being mirrored in China. They should be able to take the reigns since this would mean cheaper shipping of materials since most of the parts used here locally are made in China.
Oh we could get into MR. WASKMUNSKI who has completely destroyed what was a union at the plant. His comments are so wrong. His job is to talk the employees into taking a contract such as this one. If they went on strike the union would not get their dues and they can not afford to support these families like days of the past.
Hey, we need another antique mall in Verona!
McQuay may be eliminating positions but when you look in the paper and the online job boards, they’re recruiting to fill several positions.
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