By Bill Kirk
Staff writer
August 07, 2008 01:53 am ANDOVER — Up to 1,200 people, many of them from Lawrence, will lose their part- or full-time jobs as the result of a decision by Procter & Gamble to close its Gillette products packaging plant in Devens and shift most of the work to Mexico by the year 2010. According to Kelly Vanasse, director of external relations for P&G, the company is working with its packaging contractor, Sonoco, to shift jobs away from Devens, formerly the Fort Devens Army base in Ayer, to Gillette's Andover facility and to a new plant in Mexico. While the shift means an additional 50 to 60 jobs in Gillette's Burtt Road facility in Andover, it means the loss of hundreds of jobs at Devens. Jeff Tomaszewski, general manager of blade and razor packaging centers for Sonoco, confirmed yesterday that by 2010 the Devens packaging plant will be closed, putting 350 to 400 Sonoco employees out of work. Meanwhile, Debbie's Staffing, which has an office in Lawrence, sends another 400 to 500 workers from the city and surrounding communities to Devens every year to work at the Sonoco packaging center as temporary employees. Those jobs are all "going away," said Debbie's Staffing President Heinz Little. During certain times of the year, when production hits its peak, Debbie's Staffing sends as many as 900 employees to Devens, he said. Those jobs are disappearing as well. He said that "more than half" of the Debbie's Staffing employees are from Lawrence. The announcement by P&G "came as a surprise," said Little, whose company is based in North Carolina. "It was a decision Gillette and Sonoco made. We look at it as an opportunity to increase other partnerships in this area. We want to see what we can do so that these people (who are laid off) have the best opportunities available." Annia Lembert, president of Merrimack Valley Project in Lawrence, has worked closely with Gillette in setting up job training and English as a Second Language programs to help employees at Devens advance to better paying jobs. "We created a good relationship with them," she said. "They gave us funds to create a lot of career training for ESL. We are grateful for them. One of their (Gillette and Sonoco's) excuses for not hiring temporary workers (from Debbie's Staffing) as full-time employees was that they didn't speak English — even though some of them worked five or six years as temps." Efforts to find new jobs "Now, it's a real worry to us. They are closing the plant in Devens, and that affects a majority of workers from Lawrence. ... What's going to happen to these families without jobs? What's going to happen to this community?" Lembert said. She said the executive board of the Merrimack Valley Project is meeting Sunday to discuss a plan to help the hundreds of people affected by the plant shutdown. "We need to create something to fight for these people," she said. "We need to get them support or benefits when they close the plant." Tomaszewski of Sonoco said yesterday's announcement "gives our employees one to two years to transition" to new jobs. "Sonoco is putting in a series of plans to mitigate the impact of this announcement." He said severance and retention programs will be put into place for workers who stay on until the release date — about 18 months from now, in early 2010. He said the company also will be providing performance bonuses and other incentives to continue working for the company as it makes the transition to Mexico and Andover. Robin Montgomery, a spokesman for Sonoco, said that "as Gillette moves into operations in Mexico, we may have the opportunity to support them in that location," meaning that Sonoco could move some of its operations south of the border. "We recognize this is difficult news for many of the employees who work here," he said. "We are communicating with those employees. We are trying to be as upfront as possible to minimize the impact. This is difficult news for many of them." None of the workers are members of a union. Vanasse said P&G's mitigation package focuses on extending the company's commitment to the English as a Second Language and job training programs it started with the Merrimack Valley Project and other groups. She said the company will have invested $1 million into the program by the time it pulls funding in 2011. Neil Silverston, president of WorkSource Partners, a Brookline consulting company that manages and directs the Gillette education grant, said that through June 2009, P&G will have invested $575,000 in the program, which provides ESL classes, job training and mentoring at Notre Dame Education Center on Merrimack Street in Lawrence. He said P&G has pledged another $425,000 to fund it through June 2011. Vanasse said the training is not just for people who work for Debbie's Staffing at the Sonoco packaging plant, which was its original intent, but is now for people from all over the Merrimack Valley who want to "improve their skills for anything." "This is a commitment we have not announced yet," she said of the additional $425,000 in grant money to WorkSource and the Merrimack Valley Project for the classes at Notre Dame Education Center. "Our contract goes to the end of June 2009, and we will continue it for another two years after that." After 2011, it's unclear what's going to happen to the program, Silverston said, although he said he is looking for new funding partners. "I don't think it's going away," he said. "It's a good program. We're getting traction. In our business, two years is a good amount of time. Now it's up to us." He said New Balance, based in Lawrence, is already a partner in the program.
Facts about the Gillette shake-up r Gillette, owned by Procter & Gamble, has a contract with Sonoco, a packaging company, to package its razors for retail sale. For the next 18 months, that work will continue to be done at Sonoco's plant in Devens. After that, the razor-packaging work will move to Mexico. r The move means 350 to 400 jobs held by Sonoco employees will disappear. r Another 400 to 500 jobs held by temporary employees working for Debbie's Staffing at Sonoco also are being eliminated. During peak production times for Gillette products, Debbie's Staffing employs up to 900 workers at Devens. Those jobs are all being eliminated. r About 50 to 60 employees will be moved from Devens to Andover, where they will work in product packaging. The jobs being moved are a mix of workers from Debbie's Staffing and Sonoco. r No other changes are planned for the Andover plant at 30 Burtt Road, which is used to manufacture shave gels and foams, aerosol deodorants such as Secret, Old Spice and Tag, as well as hairstyling products. r Procter & Gamble is investing millions into its South Boston headquarters, where it will create its newest razor blade products. r Production of older product lines is being moved out of the country, either to Mexico or Berlin. r Procter & Gamble will cease funding job training, ESL and mentoring programs at Notre Dame Education Center in Lawrence in 2011.
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