Austin Packaging trying to bring laid off employees back
Published 12:00 am Saturday, November 30, 2002
One of the hazards of the food packaging industry caused 70 people to lose their jobs at Austin Packaging Company.
The layoffs came in late-October and earlier this month, according to Jeff Thatcher, executive vice president.
The workers will be at the top of APC's recall list as they pursue other contracts.
"The contract we had for that line expired after one year," said Thatcher. "It really was an issue, where our customer depended upon another customer -- in this case a supermarket chain -- and when one contract ended so did ours."
Thatcher said the layoffs were not attributable to the economy.
"Not at all," he said. "Because of what we do, we're pretty safe from that right now.
"We do a lot of short-term contract work for our customers. In fact, in early November, we actually recalled those workers for five days, but that was all the work we had for them at that time."
Thatcher said the company is working to attract new contracts "all the time."
Among its clients are customers who retain APC's services to package foods for customer testing nationwide.
Since it opened doors, Austin Packaging Company has grown from 45 to nearly 290 employees before the layoffs. Now, its work force is at the 215 to 220 mark.
Housed in the former Tempo Discount Store, Red Owl Grocery and other North Main Plaza businesses, the company has become a major local employer in a short period of time.
"We will continue to work hard to continue to grow our company," Thatcher said.
Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com