Projo Biz Blog

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics will begin laying off 90 employees in June, according to a filing the company made to the state Department of Labor and Training.

Last October, the Birstol-based company, a subsidiary of the France-based Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, first notified the plant's 160 employees about the plan, Providence Journal writer Alex Kuffner reported. One of the plant's manufacturing lines, the company said, is moving moved to Mexico.

“We appreciate the contributions made to our business by our Bristol employees and want to do what we can to help them during this transfer,” Donald Stinnett, general manager of the company’s Polymer Products Unit, said in a statement at the time. “We will work closely with each of our employees to ease the transition for them and their families.”

Earlier this month, Saint-Gobain told the Department of Labor and Training that the layoffs would begin on June 1 and be complete by September 2009. The letter, signed by human resource manager Christine Jocelyn, said the 90 employees will receive at least 60-days notice.

Saint-Gobain operates a 100,000-square-foot plant on Metacom Avenue, where it produces polymers for the automotive, medical and aviation industries. It has run the plant since 1999, and company officials have said they have no plans to close it.

The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) compels companies in Rhode Island to notify the state before closing a plant or making "mass layoffs."

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