Union: Employees at Centre Foundry in Warwood ‘Blindsided’ by Closure Plans
Derek Redd Trending
WHEELING -- Centre Foundry and Machine -- a Warwood-based business older than the state of West Virginia itself -- is planning to close, a move that United Steelworkers representatives said "blindsided" those working at the business.
Tom Hoffman, recording secretary of United Steelworkers Local 4842, confirmed the plans. He said that 36 union members will lose their jobs with the plant's closure. Negotiations, he added, "did not go well" between the company and the union on Thursday. Hoffman said the company did not provide the union with a definite closing date.
Hoffman said that on Aug. 30, the union and Centre Foundry had reached a contract extension. Then, on Aug. 31, foundry representatives told the union that Centre Foundry and Machine "would be ceasing operations."
"We asked why, and they said that the business has been sold," Hoffman said, adding that company officials did not say who the buyer was.
On Sept. 1, workers emptied the iron out of the foundry, Hoffman said. A skeleton crew will stay to wind the plant down.
United Steelworkers District 8 Director Larry Ray released a statement Thursday condemning the plant's closure.
"Our members, their families and community deserve better," Ray said. "Rather than raise the issue and seek alternatives to closure at the bargaining table, Centre Foundry chose to blindside its loyal employees.
"The USW will fight to ensure the members of Local 4842 are treated with dignity while we urge management to reconsider this terrible decision," Ray added. "Generations of proud tradition at stake, our union will challenge Centre Foundry to ensure its future."
Representatives of Centre Foundry could not be reached for comment as of Thursday evening.
Centre specialized in gray iron casting for the specialty steel industry and alloy producers. The 100,000-square-foot foundry was able to produce in excess of 100 tons a day, according to the company.
According to the company's website, the earliest recorded history of Centre Foundry is in 1840, when James and Andrew Baggs started Baggs Foundry in Ohio County, Virginia. The company was bought by Alexander Cecil, Charles Cecil and John Young in 1855, and was renamed Cecil and Co. That name stuck for 10 years before it became Centre Foundry. At the time, the plant was located in the Centre Magisterial District of Ohio County in Wheeling, Virginia.
In 1881, Centre Foundry became the first incorporated business in Ohio County, West Virginia. Between 1923 and 1927, the company outgrew its location and moved to an 11-acre tract in Warwood, where it stayed until its closure.
Young acquired control of the company in 1881 and his family owned Centre Foundry and Machine until selling it in 1979 to the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation based in Poughkeepsie, New York.
It's not just the company itself that has a long history. Those who worked there have families with a long history at Centre Foundry. Hoffman said both his great-grandfather and uncle worked there for years. Hoffman himself is a 23-year veteran of the foundry.
Now dozens of foundry workers are looking for jobs.
"I feel bad for the guys, not just myself," Hoffman said. "It's going to be rough starting at the bottom. Wherever you go, you're going to be the new guy."