Lindsay Whitehurst, Herald Bulletin
More Guide Corp. employees will leave work for the last time Friday.
About 350 hourly and many of the 150 salaried employees will be laid off, officially effective Monday, United Auto Workers Local 663 president Steve Lewis said.
"This just goes back (through the second-tier workers)," he said. "Then they'll start getting back to the (first-tier wage earners)."
Second-tier workers earn $13.75. On Jan. 2, another round of 160 layoffs will cut into the ranks of first-tier workers who have highest seniority and earn about $26 an hour.
As for the terms of the layoff for the workers, "we don't know anything yet, I can't comment," he said.
After the second round of layoffs in January, 300 people will work at Guide in Anderson.
Friday will also be the last day for the 150 salaried employees at the company's technology and customer support center in Pendleton, Lewis said.
Guide Corp. officials did not return repeated calls for comment.
Salaried employees declined to speak on the record, saying their severance package would be revoked if they did.
Pendleton Town Council President Don Henderson said he was unaware of the shutdown in Pendleton.
About a week and a half ago, "they indicated to me that they were doing things, had orders to fill, through June," Henderson said.
In October, the General Motors Corp. headlight supplier announced it would close all operations by June 2007, including a plant in Anderson that employed about 1,000 people, a plant in Monroe, La., with about 675 employees, and the salaried employees in Pendleton.
Last month, the Monroe and Anderson facilities showed up on auction company Maynard's Industries Web site. The auction is set for March.