Penn Reel's Movin on out

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sad news ><> ><> ><>............

Penn Reel to shut down Schuylkill County plant
Approximately 85 jobs to be lost in the process

From NewsItem.com

HEGINS — Penn Fishing and Tackle Manufacturing Co. recently announced its plans to shut down its Hegins production facility, leaving approximately 85 workers without jobs.

“It is unfortunate, but cost pressures from overseas competition make it impossible for us to continue operating at the Hegins facility,” said Kevin Martin, Penn CEO. “We will do everything possible to help our employees find new jobs, and we will make every attempt to sell our facility to an employer that can hopefully bring new jobs to the area.”

The facility, located at 218 Dell Road, has been making fishing tackle, namely spinning reels, since 1968. Roughly 85 employees will lose their jobs beginning in May and continuing through July, according to Martin. The company plans to move some of the operations from Hegins to its Philadelphia facility, while the remainder will be shipped overseas.

“We will continue to offer the products (spinning reels) currently on the market,” said David Martin, the chief financial officer. “But they will be made at other facilities where we can be more cost-competitive.”

Penn employees will be provided with a severance package, and job assistance that will include training on resume writing and how to find new employment.

In addition, Penn will be submitting a trade petition to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Since some of the jobs are going overseas, the trade petition will enable the government to provide the employees with additional training opportunities.

Penn’s Philadelphia manufacturing facility will not be affected by the closing of the Hegins facility. The Philadelphia plant makes a different type of fishing reel.

Penn is a privately owned company that has been manufacturing fishing reels in the United States since 1932. The Hegins plant has been in operation since the late 1960s. Many people employed there have been with the company for more than 30 years. Several employees have been working at the plant since graduating from high school.

“This is what makes it so tough,” said one employee who has spent more than 25 years with the company. “I’d be willing to say there are about 30 of us with more than 25 years of service. Some of us never had to look for a job before in our lives. I don’t know the first thing about where to turn or what to do.”

According to the employee who has been working there all his life, the workers who have more than 20 years of service were told they would receive eight-weeks pay as a severance package.

In a letter dated March 3 to Christine Enright, chief of the Labor Department’s Rapid Response/Trade Coordination Services, Kevin Martin said the shutdown is not expected to occur at one time, but will be done in stages. While an exact date has not yet been established for the plant’s closure, Penn Fishing Tackle expects that the first stage of layoffs will occur May 2, or within a 14-day period thereafter. Penn Fishing Tackle anticipates approximately 86 employees will be laid off.

The longtime employee of the plant said no one was offered to relocate to the Philadelphia facility. “I’m not real sure how long that plant will be in operation,” said the local employee. “They say it won’t affect that plant, but… I believe that particular plant won’t be in operation too much longer either.

“When this company was family owned, it was a wonderful company to work for,” the employee added. “We were treated fairly and with respect, and in the last couple of years it has just gone downhill. I believe there are too many crooks in Philadelphia mismanaging the company.”