More grim news for Waynesboro ... "all Invista workers notified of layoffs"

The headline is splashed across the top of the Waynesboro News Virginan this morning:

"All Invista workers notified of layoffs"

On the heels of Friday's unexpected layoffs of 210 workers, today's news will likely send the River City reeling as Invista workers receive notices alerting them to the possibility of being laid off in February.

The company downplayed the action ... a union spokesman said they were erring on the side of caution. According to the News Virginian:

That figure is three times higher than the 210 layoffs announced by the company last week. Invista spokeswoman Jodie Stutzman said today that because the company has not identified specifically which workers will be laid off, it included all employees in the notice. The company has said an undisclosed number of contract workers also will be laid off as part of a plan to idle nylon production.

“While we can’t estimate the exact number of contractors, we can tell you that the combination of employees and contractors to remain at the site will still exceed 500,” Stutzman said. “We’re still not sure just what those proportions will be.”

Jim Flickinger, president of United Local Workers Local 381 of the International Brotherhood of DuPont Workers, said Monday that the union would try to minimize the impact on its workers and called the current notification a precaution.

“I think they were erring on notifying too many rather than too few,” Flickinger said.

Read the entire story here.

Grim news in Waynesboro ... 210 to be laid off

"The leg bone's connected to the knee bone ... the knee bone's connected to the thigh bone ... the thigh bone's connected to the hip bone ..."

That children's song comes to mind when reading about the Invista plant's proposed layoffs of so many at their Waynesboro location. The former DuPont plant that manufactures carpeting is being effected by the slowed-down housing market which is effected by the sluggish economy.

According to the Waynesboro News Virginian:

An idling of the nylon operation for at least six months at Invista’s Waynesboro plant will put more than 210 people out of work due to a dwindling demand for carpet brought on by a sluggish housing market, company officials said Wednesday.

An undetermined number of contractors from The Mundy Companies and other contractors serving the plant will also be laid off, officials said.

This comes on the heels of Invista’s announcement Friday that 132 contract employees from The Mundy Companies of Houston, Texas also will be let go. That number includes 55 people that were previously furloughed following an interruption in raw materials supplied to the plant.

More news about the Invista layoffs:

-- Grim news shakes workers
-- Invista cutting 132 jobs
-- Fallout to ripple through city
-- Editorial: Layoffs deal city a blow

The Weather Channel lays off staff

The Weather Channel is minus some personnel after laying off an undisclosed number of people, as announced by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Weather Channel said in a press release:

“The economic realities of recent months have created challenges for everyone in our business. In addition, when NBC Universal purchased the Weather Channel earlier this year, we expected that there would be cost synergies as part of company reorganization. While it is always difficult to lose valued employees, we are doing our best to minimize the impact, and remain committed to providing the highest quality content that our viewers have come to expect from the Weather Channel.”

Now owned by NBC Universal who bought them in September, Weather Channel officials had no comment.