Updated 01/28/2010 06:02 AM
P&C warehouse workers prepare for layoffs
Many P&C warehouse workers are preparing for the worst. Employees met with representatives from the department of labor Wednesday to learn about filing for unemployment and where to take job re-training classes. As our Allison Lazarz tells us, many of them don't know what they'll do after decades with the company.
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Margaret Rellos worries about her family's future. Her husband has worked at the P&C warehouse in Geddes for more than 20 years and may lose his job if the facility closes.
"We have a family to support, ya know, kids going to be graduating and going to college. And being 23 years and not having a job, where do you look? There's not jobs, everybody's going be laid off, what do you do?" said Rellos.
Workers met on Wednesday to learn about filing for unemployment and where to go for new job training skills. Though layoffs aren't a done deal, union leaders said the writing's on the wall.
"The company has not said for sure they're closing down. They've made suggestion of it and we've reviewed court documents and court documents most certainly point that way," said Mark May, vice president of Teamsters Local 317.
May said the two Syracuse-area warehouses will likely shut down while a third warehouse in Pennsylvania will stay open.
"Right now, I have mixed feelings because I feel I've been let down. I've been here for 25 years and who's going to hire a guy with 25 years of experience in one place?" said Darryl Freeman, a warehouse worker for P&C.
Many of the workers have spent decades in the Syracuse area, working at P&C's warehouses. Thinking about moving to look for work is bittersweet for employees like Steve Steinbrecher.
"I been checking everywhere, going out of state looking for jobs and hey, my mom raised me in this area and I'd hate to leave it. And my brothers and sisters live here, I raised five kids with this job and it paid for all the benefits. It was a great job," said Steinbrecher.
Union leaders are hoping they can work out a deal with P&C's new owner, Tops Markets, to keep workers from being laid off.
May estimated that about 500 jobs would be lost if the two Syracuse-area facilities close.