WILMERDING, Pa. — Wabtec Corp. will close its plant in Wilmerding in 2024, with layoffs beginning in February or March, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
The plant is expected to close by July 1. The website Tube City Almanac reports the 13.1-acre facility was sold earlier this month to Wilmerding Warehouse LLC of Zelienople, Pa., for $1.3 million. The plant covers some 365,000 square feet, but only a small portion was still in use.
The planned shutdown, which will result in the layoff of 94 workers, became public Sunday after the company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice, with Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry. The WARN act requires employers to provide at least a 60-day notice in advance of plant closing or layoffs of large numbers of workers.
The facility is the historic home of Westinghouse Air Brake, which became Wabco and later Wabtec. The company, founded in 1869, moved to Wilmerding in 1889, and by 1905 employed 3,000 workers.
I had no idea where Wilmerding is, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. All of you should do the same, for the beautiful photo of the WABCo HQ building. Yeah, from another era of industrial history, but so is Pullman (in Chicago) which has been preserved.
Let’s hope this closure is not a shutdown that precedes a new facility in a right-to-work-for-less state wherein admins make out like bandits and skilled workers get paid far less. Reminds one of the GE effort in moving work from PA to right-to-work-for-less TX. Execs got bonuses whereas electricians, engineers, metal workers, etc all enjoyed slashed salaries.
Like it or not, it’s a competitive world. If you buy anything yourself choosing the lowest cost, remember that businesses are no different. And, state governments want to attract businesses to their states to create jobs for current residents. Not to mention attract new residents. So by legislation, they create economic conditions to attract businesses which create jobs.
Why? To increase direct and indirect tax revenues. Why shouldn’t governments be forced to compete against each other like businesses -and ultimately their workers- have to?
Fairly concise article but wondering about the “why” paragraph.
$1.3 million is that a misprint? Has to be the most dirt cheap industrial area. 13+ acres and a building that size.
And a 100 year old history of industrial waste use and dumpage.
Can someone say “Superfund”?
Since the fiscal year end for nearly all of F500 companies comes around the calendar year end as well, it is almost impossible to make any announcements impacting the next fiscal without it overlapping with the holidays.
However in the case of Wabtec, announcing it publicly on a non-business day, the day before a major holiday was done to keep it off the 24×7 news cycle.
WABTEC looks really classy here. Announcing a plant closing in December. Ever hear of Karma? It shall come unto them.