Friday, July 15, 2005

GST AutoLeather ending U.S. production with Maryland layoffs

Much of firm's work has moved to Mexico

By David Dishneau / Associated Press

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HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- GST AutoLeather Inc., a maker of automotive seating leather, will end more than a century of U.S. production when it lays off the last 400 manufacturing workers at its plant near Williamsport, according to filings with state labor officials.

The Western Maryland plant will be closed by the end of September, according to notices the company has filed with the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

GST, with headquarters in nearby Hagerstown and Southfield, Mich., has moved much of its production to Mexico and China since being acquired by Citicorp Venture Capital in 2000. Beside the layoffs at the Williamsport plant, which had about 1,000 workers in 2002, GST has eliminated hundreds of manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania.

The Williamsport tannery dates to 1897. It was acquired in 1976 by Garden State Tanning, which changed its name to GST in 2003.

On Thursday, GST employees in Williamsport learned about job-training opportunities and other services available through DLLR and the Western Maryland Consortium, a federally funded agency that helps the unemployed find work.

Robert Colvin, who was laid off by GST three weeks ago, said many of the workers probably will find jobs in the area, where construction, warehousing, retailing and restaurants are booming -- but at lower pay than the $14 to $18 an hour they got at GST.

"Say these guys that leave here, they can take a job that's paying $2 an hour less," said Colvin, a former local president of UNITE HERE, the union representing most GST workers at Williamsport. "The people I pity are the ones who are 55 or 56 years old because employers, they do discriminate against age."

GST closed its cutting plant in Williamsport last year and is in the process of shutting down its retanning operation there. In four notices to the DLLR from June 3 to June 29, GST said it would lay off workers in all remaining sectors of the tannery, including plant operations, engineering and maintenance, manufacturing quality assurance, finance and personnel, The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail reported Wednesday.

Patrick Baker, state administrator for DLLR's dislocated worker services, said Thursday that he had read the notices and spoken with GST officials. Baker said GST plans to maintain a small presence but "it looked like much, if not all, of their manufacturing function there was ending."

GST officials didn't return telephone calls from The Associated Press.

Baker and Colvin said the workers are eligible for aid under the federal Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance Program because the work is being moved to plants in Mexico.

The loss of production jobs follows the company's Jan. 18 announcement of a long-term agreement with the Mexican company Cueros Industrializados del Bajio, S.A. de C.V., to do the same type of work done by some of the Williamsport workers. GST also has plants in Nuevo Laredo and Saltillo, Mexico, and Zhongshan, China.

GST said in November 2003 that it held a 15 percent share of the global automotive seating-leather market, behind Eagle Ottawa LLC of Rochester Hills, Mich., and the Seton Co., of Norristown, Pa. At that time, GST's leather was used in Toyota, Lexus, Acura, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Isuzu, Lincoln and Mazda vehicles.

------ On the Net: GST AutoLeather: http://www.gstautoleather.com