By Brittany Hart and Brenda Showalter, The Republic
bhart@therepublic.com; bshowalter@therepublic.com
The global recession hit home Thursday morning for 720 local workers as Cummins MidRange Engine Plant announced a temporary shutdown and other layoffs.
"I'm still in shock," said Tammi Reinbold, a 12-year CMEP employee and secretary and treasurer of Diesel Workers Union.
"It hits home because I have a lot of friends there, and it's my home plant."
The Walesboro plant will cease operation for an undetermined length of time beginning May 15 while Chrysler undergoes bankruptcy reorganization.
Cummins will lay off 610 hourly workers at CMEP beginning Thursday.
Layoffs, unrelated to the Chrysler bankruptcy, also were announced Thursday for 30 workers at Columbus Engine Plant, 30 at Cummins Fuel Systems Plant and 50 at Cummins Industrial Center in Seymour.
Another 80 salaried CMEP employees will be moved to other locations, the company said.
Reinbold expected a partial layoff or a cutback to one-shift operation at CMEP, but she did not foresee the magnitude of the layoffs across four plants.
"I've been here 12 years, and I never really thought I would see this happen," she said. "CMEP always seemed like the bread and butter of things. It just goes to show that in this economy right now, there are no guarantees."
Frank Farley, a 33-year Cummins Inc. employee, said he will be watching national news closely in coming weeks to see what happens with Chrysler and its bankruptcy.
How soon he goes back to work at CMEP depends on Chrysler and its need for the Dodge Ram diesel engines made in Walesboro, he said.
Workers knew a layoff was a possibility after working shorter work weeks this spring, said Farley, who works in the engine repair department.
"We knew the Chrysler situation was down," Farley said. "They're our biggest customer."
At 57, Farley said he'll be all right financially but he wonders about his younger workers with car and house payments.
Unemployment benefits will have to tide over many of the workers because Farley doubts many laid-off workers will find other jobs.
"Work is going to be hard to find now with other people laid off," he said.
"We're just trying to help the employees the best we can," Reinbold said. "Hopefully the plant will open again."
Big loss
Ruby Eagleton, manager at Shorty's Lunch in Columbus, said the layoffs were a big loss for the community.
The restaurant has a large lunch crowd each day from Cummins' plants in Columbus and Walesboro.
Owner Shorty Prather, who started the restaurant in 1946, and his staff have become close friends with their Cummins' customers.
"I'm just sorry for them. Most of them have families," Eagleton said.
"They've always supported us 100 percent, and we support them. We're just hoping it's not a permanent situation."
James Scarbrough, a technical adviser at Cummins Tech Center, was very surprised by the temporary plant closing.
"I feel for the production guys. They always take a real hit," he said.
Scarbrough and his fellow engineering employees are not affected by the layoffs.
"We're lucky our work doesn't change with the economy," he said.
A Cummins Engine Plant employee, who declined to give his name, received numerous calls Thursday morning from concerned CMEP employees.
"Their world is turned upside down right now," he said.
With the economic downturn and few other jobs available, he said he worried about his laid-off friends and their families.
"It's going to devastate a lot of employees. There's going to be a lot of people without jobs, and they have no idea when they're going to be called back," he said.
"I never really thought I would see this happen. CMEP always seemed like the bread and butter of things. It just goes to show ... there are no guarantees."