HUNTINGTON — The Huntington County Board of Commissioners received a letter Monday that confirmed there will be layoffs at United Technologies Electronic Controls in Huntington.
During Monday’s commissioners meeting, Board President Tom Wall read a letter from Dominique Millard, UTEC senior human resources manager, that stated the letter is to notify Huntington County that UTEC intends to relocate its manufacturing operations located at 3650 W. County Road 200N and 1600 Riverfork Dr., Huntington.
This letter states the action follows a thorough evaluation of its manufacturing operations and is intended to address the challenges the business faces in a rapidly changing industry.
Employment separations related to this closure are expected to begin on or about March 8 and continue through June 30.
The letter states approximately 75 employees will be impacted in March; 738 employees in total will be affected over time. While the entire facility is not closing, the separations are expected to be permanent, the letter states.
“We had hope that what is going on in America right now that this would change. UTEC has been a very valued employee of Huntington County,” Wall said. “We hadn’t received official notification, and I guess today is that day. We will still continue to do economic development and work with the state and federal government to retain jobs for our employees.”
During a telephone interview Monday afternoon, Mark Wickersham, Huntington County Economic Development executive director, said he has received the letter.
“A WARN Notice stands for The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and under the act, employers over a certain size are legally required to advise the local units of government when a mass layoff or a plant closure is anticipated to begin within 60 days of the date of the letter,” Wickersham said.
He said it is not customary to release the letter months before layoffs.
“In this case UTEC voluntarily made an early unofficial announcement as did Carrier of their intentions. The letter we now have dated Jan. 5, 2017, is the official announcement and information summarizing the plan as they move forward,” Wickersham said.
It is official by June 30, 2018, that they will have relocated manufacturing operations outside of Huntington to Monterrey, Mexico, according to Wickersham.
“The 60-day clock under the official government requirement is that approximately 75 employees will be effected in March this year,” Wickersham said.
He said the February 2016 announcement is now official that UTEC was anticipating moving the relocation of manufacturing operations from Huntington to Monterrey, Mexico, and that the local operation would transfer from manufacturing to engineering and research and development options.
“This is the official notification of what was announced in February of last year and this summarizes and finalizes the discussion that the work that (President-elect Donald) Trump had done with Carrier does not give us good news for UTEC and the governor’s work last year with work force development teams will actively begin their work helping the effected employees as soon as possible,” Wickersham said.