Corning Inc.’s Corning Cable Systems subsidiary said it has reduced by 450 positions its workforce in its NAFTA region facilities, in an effort to “further align costs with current business conditions as a decline in the telecommunications industry continues.”
The cuts came at Corning Cable Systems locations in North Carolina, Texas, Missouri, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Corning Cable also said another 450 employees have accepted one of three voluntary separation offers made by the company on August 3, 2001. That program gave employees a choice of taking early retirement, voluntary severance or voluntary layoff.
Today’s reductions come after the combined results of the company’s cost-control measures and the voluntary work force reduction program were not sufficient to bring the company’s cost structure in line with current business demand, company officials said.
“The decisions we are announcing did not come easily, and are not taken lightly,” said Sandy Lyons, president and chief executive officer of Corning Cable Systems, in a statement. “The decline in the telecom business has been unrelenting, and unfortunately, we don’t see a near-term recovery. Since the first of the year, we have instituted several cost-reduction measures to preserve jobs as long as possible. Regrettably, what we’re continuing to see in the marketplace has forced us to take this broader action.”
Today’s announcement was not completely unexpected by Corning Cable Systems employees, officials said. After making the voluntary separation offers, the company’s leadership acknowledged that there was a strong possibility it would be forced to make reductions in the near future.
These job reductions bring Corning Cable Systems’ total employment reductions since May 2001 to about 1,140 or 8 percent of its worldwide workforce of 14,000. Excluding today’s Corning Cable Systems reductions, Corning Inc. has eliminated approximately 5,900 positions this year, in response to the industry-wide downturn in the telecommunications sector.
Corning Cable Cuts Workforce
