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NanoChemonics plant shut down
, Staff Writer
03-01-2010
As many as 60 people have joined the ranks of the unemployed as the fate of NanoChemonics fell into question Friday evening.
Richard Adams, a spokesman for United Steel Workers No. 8-00002 and a 38-year employee of the Pulaski manufacturer, said workers remaining at the plant were told Friday they were being placed on indefinite furlough.
Adams estimated about 60 employees, both salaried and waged, are affected by the shut-down.
Company officials could not be reached for comment, but Adams and Kurt Marcussen say it is their understanding a bank has taken control of the facility.
“Charlie Maxwell, the superintendent, called me Friday and asked me if I wanted to work Sunday,” Marcussen said. “…he said it would be my last day, that the plant’s being turned over to bankers.”
He and Adams say fewer than a dozen employees are left at the plant.
An employee answered a call to the plant Saturday, but indicated there weren’t any company officials left to comment on the situation. A call to the home of a Charlie Maxwell who lives in Radford was answered by an answering machine.
According to Adams, Tim Hopkins, who was president of the company, has been gone since January. He said the company’s head chemist, Carmine DiNitto, is one of the few officials still employed.
Bob Pierce, president of Local 8-00002, said company officials haven’t contacted the union to inform them of the status of the plant.
“As far as I know, they’re shutting it down,” he said. “They haven’t really contacted us.”
Union workers’ contracts expired Jan. 31, following a seven-month extension the union had given the company last June, Adams said. He indicated the company “didn’t have anything to negotiate with” in June, so the workers agreed to a seven-month extension of their existing contract.
Pierce said company officials indicated in January that they were probably going to have to shut down the facility. Nonetheless, the workers gave the company another 30-day extension on contract negotiations.
“Obviously it’s very sad to see anyone lose their job,” Pierce said. “The plant has been on the edge a long time, but the economy stinks.” He said a lot of the employees had been with the plant since it was Magnox and a division of Hercules.
“A lot of them are in their 50’s and 60’s. Where do you go at that age?” Pierce asked.
Adams estimated a third of the workers had 20 or more years with the company, which has had a number of owners over the past two decades. He and Marcussen agreed it will be difficult to start over at their age, but they said they’re not giving up. Both men are 57 and were lead mechanics at the plant.
Knowing the plant was in trouble, Marcussen said he already has been watching for another job. He pointed out there are welding jobs available at the shipyards in Newport News, so he’ll get an apartment there and come home on weekends if necessary.
Marcussen indicated there are already so many people looking for work who have a “foothold” on applying for jobs that NanoChemonics employees are essentially going to be at the back of the line.
The men are hoping to find out more about the status of the plant when they turn in their badges Monday.
They’re hoping the furloughs will be temporary and the plant will eventually be up and running again.
“If they can get the R&D (research and development) straightened out” the plant has the ability to be extremely profitable, Adams said.
The company was a leading manufacturer of magnetic iron oxides and magnetite particles that were used in applications such as audio-visual tapes. In 2005, it added research and production of nanoparticle inorganic oxides used in cosmetics and other applications.
Marcussen said samples of the nanoparticles recently were sent out to potential customers. He is hoping those customers will like the product and want to order more so that the plant can begin operation again.
“I hope it will turn around, but it’s not going to be real quick,” he said, estimating it could take six to eight months.
Adams and Marcussen said the company’s major problems began when third world countries that still used the older product “suddenly quit buying” for some reason.
The old product was being phased out by that time, but the men said the new product wasn’t yet bringing the amount of money needed to keep the plant afloat.
They said the employees were always well informed of what was going on with the company until late 2006 when Spotswood Capital LLC invested into the business.
“It’s been a good ride here,” Adams said. Marcussen agreed.
They said the people were good to work with and they both “learned a lot” from the top management. “We were union men, but they were easy to get along with,” Adams said.
“The employees have done a good job for the plant,” he added.
