AS SIEMENS ENERGY LOOKS TO SELL OLEAN PLANT, SCHUMER URGES SIEMENS TO SELL TO A COMPANY THAT WILL COMMIT TO PROTECTING NEARLY 1,000 JOBS; SENATOR GOES TO BAT TO KEEP UNION STEELWORKER JOBS IN OLEAN
Earlier This Year, Siemen’s Energy Announced It Would Gradually End Manufacturing Operations At Its Olean Plant And Slash 590 Majority USW Jobs; Company Is Currently Looking To Sell 88-Acre Manufacturing Facility
Schumer Has Long Fought To Protect Jobs – Dating Back To Dresser-Rand; Economic Health of Region Endangered By Manufacturing Plant Sale
Schumer: Siemens Sale Must Save Steelworker Jobs
After Siemens Energy announced plans earlier this year to close their Olean manufacturing plant, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer met with impacted workers in Olean and called on Siemens to sell the plant to a manufacturer that will maintain the current manufacturing jobs, many of them unionized steelworkers. Schumer urged Siemens to minimize the impact of the plant’s sale and explained that preserving each of the nearly 1,000 jobs is integral to the economic health of the entire region.
“A fixture in local manufacturing for generations, Siemens Energy’s decision to close the Olean manufacturing plant will have tremendous ripple effects on everyone from the employees and their families to business owners and local governments, which depend on well-paying and reliable jobs staying in Olean,” said Senator Schumer. “Siemens must do right by the community and make sure that any manufacturer they sell to will commit to keeping steelworker jobs in Olean.”
Schumer added, “Manufacturing operations in Olean go back over a century, fostering generations of skilled steelworkers and significant local pride, and Siemens should do everything in their power to ensure that legacy continues long after they’ve left.”
In February, Siemens Energy announced that it would be cutting jobs across the U.S., including 530 of the 890 total jobs in Olean. Upon hearing the news, Schumer immediately reached out to Siemens top brass to argue against the decision to cut jobs and remind the company of the importance of the manufacturing plant in Olean’s community. Siemens Energy has unfortunately continued with their plan to cut manufacturing jobs and sell the plant, which would result in the loss of most of the USW Local 4601 workforce in Olean, more than 300 of whom currently work at the site.
The Olean plant produces mostly turbines and compressors, which Siemens energy plans to scale back. The Siemens Energy plant in Painted Post will be absorbing approximately 100 of the jobs being cut in Olean, and many white collar, non-manufacturing jobs are slated to remain, mostly in R&D and engineering.
That plan, Schumer said in February, was not a viable solution for the community or the workers whose jobs are in danger. Therefore, the senator called on Siemens to sell to a manufacturer that would commit to keeping those union jobs in Olean.
Schumer’s latest push is the latest in a lengthy history of activism on behalf of the Olean facility and the USW jobs that have staffed the plant for decade, as well as the other Siemens Energy facilities across New York State.
Schumer was joined by impacted members of the United Steelworkers and local officials.
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