This was a shocker. My oldest daughter just called to tell me about this and I found the story online. We know a lot of people that work at this plant.

http://www.gazetteonline.com/go_article/0,1336,18496%252D1,00.html

Plant closing leaves 370 jobless, uninsured By Dave DeWitte Gazette assistant financial editor Saturday, September 01, 2001, 11:29:47 AM CEDAR RAPIDS -- Many at the Goss Graphic Systems plant in southwest Cedar Rapids knew things weren't going well for the offset press manufacturer, but few expected the way things would go down at a brief and startling meeting at 8 a.m. Friday. In less than 15 minutes, Goss Chief Operating Officer Matt Cribari told 370 employees called into a meeting at a Kirkwood Community College auditorium their plant was closed, their jobs were gone, and their health insurance would expire at midnight.

Whether the company would honor other benefits owed the employees such as unused vacation time would depend on negotiations with the company's lender, Cribari told them.

"He just kept saying, 'it's in negotiation with the bank,' " said one amazed former Goss employee, leaving the meeting.

Goss had granted union members who gave up their jobs in an earlier cutback this year six months of severance pay but indicated no severance would be offered upon the plant closing.

The company had set the stage for the closing Thursday by telling workers not to show up for work Friday. Many employees had already taken home their tool boxes, fearing that they would lose $2,000 or more worth of personal tools in a plant lockup.

GOSS HISTORY 1964: Miehle-Goss-Dexter, predecessor to Goss Graphic Systems, announces plans for new 144,000-square-foot plant in Cedar Rapids. 1965: Plant opens at 4700 Bowling St. SW 1969: North American Rockwell, predecessor to Rockwell International, acquires Miehle-Goss-Dexter 1988: Rockwell Goss expands operation with second assembly plant in former FMC building at 4401 Bowling St. SW; eventually consolidates operations and vacates plant at 4700 Bowling St. SW August 1989: Rockwell Graphic Systems announces plans to lay off between 250 and 300 employees as printing press sales fell off sharply. Subsequent reductions reduced employment to about 720. October 1996: Rockwell International sells Graphic Systems unit to Stonington Partners Inc., a New York-based private investment company July 1999: Goss Graphic Systems files pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan to restructure debt January 2000: Goss Graphic Systems closes Redding, Pa., plant; four product lines sent to Cedar Rapids plant March 2000: Goss Graphic Systems files federal lawsuit seeking to recover damages it claims the company suffered because of unlawful foreign dumping practices February 2001: Goss Graphic Systems lays off 150 at Cedar Rapids plant Aug. 31, 2001: Goss Graphic Systems announces closure of Cedar Rapids plant It was the end of Goss offset press production on U.S. soil. Cedar Rapids had become the company's U.S. production hub, manufacturing both single-width and double-width offset presses, following the closing more than one year ago of a plant in Reading, Pa. Remaining Goss plants include one in Preston, England; one in Nantes, France; and one in Sayama, Japan. Goss is also part of a Shanghai, China, joint venture company.

In addition to the Cedar Rapids shutdown, Goss on Friday cut 90 positions at its Westmont, Ill., headquarters. Blame for the cutbacks was placed on "unfair dumping" of press equipment in the United States by foreign manufacturers, and by a slowdown in advertising revenues at U.S. publications that caused many customers to postpone or cancel orders.

Dumping refers to the practice of selling products in a foreign country for less than it costs to produce and deliver them in an effort to drive out competition. An anti-dumping lawsuit filed by Goss is pending in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

"The company must win the anti-dumping lawsuit if there is to be any prospect of reopening the Cedar Rapids plant," Goss' statement said.

Whether the company can prevail in the case is uncertain. Several publishing industry trade articles panned Goss' market performance recently, citing widely publicized clashes over press performance and installation problems at the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers.

Goss' top five executives, meanwhile, collected nearly $2.7 million in bonuses in the company's 2000 fiscal year, plus stock incentives.

A Goss spokesman would answer few questions orally and did not respond Friday to a list of written questions about the closure, including the reasons for its suddenness. Cribari told employees to expect a letter next week explaining the status of their benefits.

Locking the doors late Thursday on its Cedar Rapids plant, Goss may have violated the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act, which requires employees receive 60 days' notice of any plant closing of six months or longer.

Machinists Local 831 plans to file suit Tuesday against Goss in U.S. District Court seeking damages under the act for failure to provide adequate notification of the closing, according to Local 831 Business Agent Joe Ironside.

"They violated the law, knowingly and willingly," Ironside said. If the union prevails in its case, workers could win an amount equal to back pay and benefits for a period up to 60 days.

The cutoff of benefits affected retirees and employees on disability as well as those who lost their jobs at the plant. Ironside said the union's attorney is investigating the legality of Goss' actions.

"We have one member whose wife has cancer, and she's going through chemotherapy today," said Ken Clark, a 23-year Goss employee and Local 831 president. "We have retirees and widows who are being cut off."

An unemployment compensation signup session is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Local 831 hall for union members.

Employees said Goss' financial condition was evident from strained relations with suppliers, who increasingly required payment in advance for parts.

Fred Wittke, an electrician, said he knew something was coming at Goss, but "I just didn't believe it would be all over."

"I still don't think the full reality has sunk in yet," said Wittke, who still managed to feel grateful for his 36 years of employment with Goss. "I've never experienced anything like this before. I've never been out of work."

Machinists at Goss earned about $21 per hour, according to union officials, a good wage for the Cedar Rapids market, although many machinists elsewhere earn more.

About 40 Machinists Union members at Goss had retired in the last two months, Clark said, because they wanted to protect their health insurance benefits by retiring while the plant is operating and the union contract is in effect. Union officials said Goss had never before cut off benefits to union retirees while they had a contract in effect, although Goss recently notified retirees from the closed reading their health coverage would end at contract expiration time.

Accusatory remarks were directed at Goss after Cribari opened Friday's meeting for questions, according to several present, reflecting a feeling of betrayal.

"We've always been under the assumption our retirees have health care for life," Clark said.

Previous seniority-based layoffs at the plant left only machinists who had been at Goss 15 years or longer. The average age of machinists was 52 years.

While most were saddened by Friday's announcement, not all felt bitterness.

"That's life," said one 61-year-old employee, who was laid off in 1985 from Link Belt Speeder as it exited Cedar Rapids. "It's happening all over."

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

Answers

In this article it states that the average age of the machinists is 52, that is probably close to the average age of all of the workers at this plant. Many started there right out of school and expected to retire from there. Where are these people going to gets jobs at these ages??

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

More important for these and the tens of thousands of other laid-off workers around the country, what will they do when the unemployment payments run out after six months? How will they afford the close to $500/month for COBRA (extended health insurance) family coverage? The maximum unemployment is no more than about $375/week and is less in some states. We live in fear of Sweetie being laid off from his new job.

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

$375/week! ! ! Iowa max is like $275/week and you have to earn a lot to get that much.

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

I think the payment depends on what the state charges employers. I guess NC employers get hit up for more than others.

-- Anonymous, September 02, 2001

When a paint factory closed in Pittsburgh, the 270 or so employees got together and bought the plant. Any chance of that happening here? I certainly would give that plan some serious thought. A 52-year-old worker is likely to be facing age discrimination if s/he tries to find work elsewhere.

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001

I don't know if the employees would try to buy this or not. What I had heard was happening was a lot of foreign companies are dumping their printing presses here in the US for alot less than what Goss could sell them for (and they are vastly inferior). That is part of the lawsuit Goss filed a couple of years ago in federal court and we all know how fast the court systems move.

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001