Christie lays off 25 workers due to soft market

KITCHENER — Christie Digital Systems Canada says a drop in demand for some of its products has prompted the layoff of 25 workers at its Kitchener facility.

“This layoff is a very rare occurrence,” Dave Paolini, the company’s manager of media and public relations, said in an email.

It’s the first time that production employees have been let go since Christie acquired the former Electrohome Projection Systems business in 1999, he said.

“Christie continues to operate in a highly-competitive market, which is the norm these days, and Christie isn’t immune to these global realities,” Paolini said.

“To reflect the realities of today’s market, we have had to adjust sections of our workforce and recently we had to lay off 25 manufacturing technicians, as demand for some our product lines has dropped.”

Christie specializes in projection technology and digital display systems.

All of the affected employees were unionized members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Asked whether additional labour reductions are anticipated — or whether these layoffs may prove to be temporary — Paolini noted that market conditions can change rapidly and said the company is prepared to adjust its workforce as necessary.

“Christie won’t speculate on hypothetical situations but will say that it is the company’s goal to keep employment as robust as possible, pursuant to market realities.”

Just over 670 employees remain employed at Christie in Kitchener. With a head office in California, Christie engineering and manufacturing is headquartered in Kitchener. Christie is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s Ushio, Inc.