Corning Inc. cutting 107 jobs at its Steuben County plant
Corning Inc. will eliminate 107 jobs, or about 20% of the workforce, at the Erwin Plant on Addison Road in Painted Post.
The Erwin Plant, which currently employs 532 workers, will not close, according to a Corning Inc. spokesperson.
“The Erwin Plant in general helps support automotive emissions control and clean air technology and the number one thing we would like people to know is that the Erwin Plant is not closing,” a Corning Inc. spokesman said. “It will stay open and continue to operate. This one line is just shifting to a different facility.”
The Corning Inc. spokesperson did not indicate what location the line would be shifted to moving forward.
The layoffs, detailed in a WARN notice filed with New York state, are scheduled to take effect May 19. The notice listed the reason for the layoff as “economic.” WARN protects employees, their families and communities by requiring employers to give a 60-day notice to the affected employees and state and local representatives before a plant closing or mass layoff.
Erwin employees are represented by United Steel Workers Local 1000, according to the WARN notice.
The Erwin Plant will continue to operate and will remain critical to support automative emissions control and clear-air technology, according to Corning Inc. The move will help Corning Inc. better leverage its high-volume capabilities and best utilize its manufacturing footprint to continue operating most efficiently, according to the company.
The layoffs come about a month after Corning Inc. slashed about 1,000 jobs in mid-January as part of a global workforce reduction due to revenue shortfalls at the company. Approximately 200 of those jobs were in the greater Corning area.
A Corning Inc. spokesperson said those cuts represented approximately 2% of the company’s global workforce of about 50,000.
During its fourth quarter earnings call in January, CEO Wendell Weeks said “sales are well below long-term trends,” but “the actions we took to improve our profitability and cash flow generations through 2023 are evident in our financial performance.”
The January workforce reduction marked the second consecutive year that Corning eliminated over 1,000 positions globally. The company cut close to 1,500 jobs worldwide in January 2023 amid concerns about economic conditions. The company did not share how many salaried jobs were cut at plants in the greater Corning area during that layoff.