Layoffs hit city hard

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It has been a tough couple of weeks on the local economy as a number of companies including Boart Longyear, Dyno Nobel, Teletech and Atlas Copco announced layoffs.

Atlas Copco’s General Manager Jeff Hager says the financial crisis in the world is terrible and has impacted the Canadian mining industry swiftly and severely.

“We have had 37 position layoffs,” he explains.

“They impact our production and warehousing employees.”

Hager says because there has been a severe drop in activity worldwide Atlas Copco has had no alternative but to react to what is happening.

“It affects everyone and this situation will impact a lot of valuable sub suppliers locally as well.”

“The issue is we can’t manufacture products that no one is going to buy, so we have had to make adjustments.”

Hager is quick to point out that it is not an easy decision to make and that the company is doing everything it can to get folks back to work as quickly as possible.

“We don’t know what is going to happen but Atlas Copco has made an investment in North Bay because we believe in the industry and the capabilities of our employees here.”

“We are working hard to develop new business and customers,” he states.

“We are not going out of business that’s for sure.”

As for the 95 layoffs at Teletech officials at the International Head Office in Colorado say that the layoffs are a result of changes to their vendor’s needs.

“Basically our client is changing their business needs and are ramping down a program at that site,” explains TeleTech spokesperson K.C. Higgins.

Higgins says Teletech is an international company that has been in business for 27 years and what is happening at the North Bay site is common practice.

“This is a normal part of our business.”

“We work strategically with our clients to avoid these situations but at the end of the day we have contractual obligations and when their needs change we change with them.”

Higgins says the affected employees were given notice on Monday and will be paid out to the end of the year. She also says the company is doing everything it can to develop new prospects to find additional work in order for these employees to keep their jobs.

“You do everything you can to keep your good workforce and we have a great workforce in North Bay,” she says.

“TeleTech has a good track record in this situation.”

Higgins also notes that the company is also doing all it can to help the affected employees secure employment in the community in order to make the transition as easy as possible for all involved.

Mayor Vic Fedeli says the city will hold a meeting to see what they can do to help but both the province and federal governments control employment related issues.