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Router manufacturer lays off 15
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Published: March 21, 2009
When one out of every nine able-bodied workers is unemployed, every job counts.
Fifteen more workers joined the swelling ranks of the unemployed in Iredell County on Friday, when C.R. Onsrud Inc. trimmed its work force to compensate for slow sales.
Tom Onsrud, the company's CEO, said he hopes the downturn is temporary.
"We hope the new administration will prioritize measures to restore confidence to capital equipment markets soon so that we may resume planned expansions," Onsrud said in a statement.
"Customers are reluctant to make the commitment to expansion, in this economy. This will change for the better, hopefully soon."
Onsrud said he hopes the layoffs at the CNC and Inverted Routers manufacturer in Troutman will be temporary. The plant employs 60 workers.
Friday's announcement was the latest in a series of layoffs that propelled Iredell County's unemployment rate to 11.7 percent in January.
The newly unemployed workers will join former Freightliner and Liberty Homes employees.
Liberty Homes temporarily laid off 90 workers in December, but decided to make the situation more permanent in January. The plant was scheduled to close Friday.
Daimler Trucks North America laid off 1,290 workers and cut the second shift at its nearby Cleveland truck manufacturing plant on March 13. Around 420 more employees at the Cleveland plant are expected to lose their jobs in May.
Union Grove resident Sammy Layell said he was sorry to lose his job because the Onsruds were the best employers he's ever had.
Layell said management held a company-wide meeting Thursday to discuss the changes.
Layell, who worked at the Murdock Road site for three years, said work had definitely slowed during the past couple of months.
"They haven't sold a machine in a month," he said. "They've been paying us … we really haven't had a lot to do."
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