Staff Report
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
MONTPELIER — Powers and Sons, LLC, will lay off 53 workers at its Montpelier plant on Dec. 7, according to a notice the company filed with the State of Ohio.
The four-page notice, signed Sept. 23 by Amy Meschberger for the company and stamped received by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Sept. 24, lists “decline in demand for product or service” as the reason. No other reason was checked.
The notice describes the cut as a layoff, not a closure. All 53 workers are to be laid off on the same day at the plant at 1613 Magda Drive. The company answered “no” when asked whether the notice changes an earlier one.
Asked what it is doing to soften the blow, the company wrote that it is “actively seeking new work with potential for low and high-volume work, which would allow us to recall employees back and potentially hire new employees.”
The company answered “no” when asked whether severance will be available, and “no” when asked whether bumping rights will be in place. Bumping rights let a worker whose job is cut move into another position, usually by seniority.
The company said it will give affected workers information on how to apply for unemployment benefits and on job placement, retraining and counseling services.
The notice does not say whether the layoff is expected to be permanent or temporary. The state form notes that temporary layoffs lasting less than six months do not require a notice.
Production and maintenance workers at the plant are represented by United Auto Workers Local 211, based in Defiance. The notice lists Victor Maag as the union chairperson.
The layoff would affect roughly one in four jobs at the plant. The company’s website lists the Magda Drive building as its headquarters and manufacturing and assembly operation, with 230 employees in 200,000 square feet.
Powers and Sons makes steering linkage and suspension parts for the auto industry, including tie rod ends, pitman arms, idler arms, drag links and forgings, according to its website.
The company traces its roots to 1932, when the Powers family ran a Ford dealership in Montpelier with a small machine shop in the back that made repair parts for Model A and Model T cars. Ford, short on suppliers during the Depression, asked the shop to make pitman arms for the Model A, according to the company’s history. The family sold the dealership just before World War II to focus on manufacturing, and its parts went into tanks, jeeps and aircraft during the war. Powers and Sons was sold to Letts Industries, a Detroit-area forging company, in 1956. Powers and Sons, LLC was formed in 2002.
Besides Montpelier, the company operates Pioneer Forge, a forging plant at 101 Industrial Ave. in Pioneer with about 90 employees, and an assembly plant in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, with about 35 employees, according to its website. The state notice says the layoff is taking place at the Montpelier address only.
Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, employers with 100 or more workers generally must give at least 60 days’ written notice before a mass layoff or plant closing. Notices filed in Ohio go to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which posts them publicly.
Workers looking for job-search help can contact OhioMeansJobs Williams County, 117 W. Butler St., Bryan, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The center offers free employment services to job seekers and employers.
