By John Martin, Evansville Courier & Press
The impending loss of 113 local jobs at Bristol-Myers Squibb is part of a shift in company strategy that was announced in August 2008, according to a spokeswoman for the company.
Bristol-Myers Squibb will eliminate 79 Evansville jobs and 34 Mount Vernon, Ind., jobs by Dec. 31, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing with the state.
The layoffs do not affect Mead Johnson Nutrition, which earlier this year split from Bristol-Myers Squibb and has announced the addition of a production line in Evansville.
In August 2008, Bristol-Myers officials said all Indiana operations would be merged in Mount Vernon in the near future.
The move is because of decreased demand for pharmaceutical projects historically made in Evansville, said Linda Jordan, communications director at Bristol-Myers' headquarters in New Brunswick, N.J.
A quality-control laboratory in Evansville will remain open for now but will close once a similar facility begins operating in Mount Vernon in 2010 or 2011, Jordan said.
Local employees were told last year that some jobs would be affected by the pending moves, Jordan said.
The company will continue to manufacture and distribute many products at Mount Vernon.
Jordan said all Bristol-Myers pharmaceuticals are distributed from Mount Vernon. About 15 medications prescribed for several diseases, including diabetes, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and cardiovascular health issues, are manufactured there.
The positions being eliminated include 57 production operators based in Evansville, 14 team leaders in both Evansville and Mount Vernon and a variety of other managers, coordinators and specialists.
Jordan said she was unable to provide a salary range for the positions, noting they are from different areas of the company.
The announcement by Bristol-Myers wasn't a complete surprise, said Greg Wathen, president and chief executive of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana.
"We anticipated this was a part of the continued reorganization, but we didn't know until we saw the numbers (Tuesday) what the impact would really be," Wathen said.
"No one likes to see the loss of any positions, particularly at this time, the way the economy is."
While announcements such as the one by Bristol-Myers and news that Whirlpool will end its manufacturing operations in Evansville are distressing, Wathen said, there also has been positive economic development news in the region.
Companies such as Toyota, AT&T, Mead Johnson and Berry Plastics have invested about $800 million in the four-county region in the last 2-1/2 years, Wathen said.
He added that his organization is in continuous contact with "quite a few" other companies considering new investments in the region.
"Over time, we'll be able to make up the positions that are lost," Wathen said.
"But that's probably little solace right now to the people whose jobs have been lost. ... The fact is, we are at least trying to keep up with what we are losing."