Graham plant closing

Vandalia’s mayor learned on Tuesday morning that Graham Packaging plans to close its local plant later this year, which will result in the loss of about 200 jobs.

Rick Gottman told The Leader-Union early Tuesday morning that he had learned about the planned closure of the plastic container-producing plant when he received a letter given to plant employees.
That word comes months after Gottman, local businessmen and state Sen. Kyle McCarter met with company employees to address rumors of the plant closing.
“It is another sad day in Vandalia,” Gottman said in press release issued on Tuesday afternoon.
“My heart goes out to the 126 active hourly employees, the 77 hourly employees who are currently on layoff and the 12 salaried employees who will be affected by this closure, and to their families,” the mayor said in the release.
Gottman said that the closure is taking place despite the best efforts of the local team working on economic development issues.
“I want (the employees) to know that over the past three to four years, we have attempted numerous times to work with the management and corporate officials within Graham Packaging to try to resolve any issues and to keep the doors of the facility open,” he said in the press release.
Gottman said that he, Ernie Chappel of First National Bank, Greg Starnes of Fayette County Hospital, local businessmen Charlie and Walt Barenfanger and McCarter had worked in the past year to prevent the closure.
“When asked if we could do anything in order to keep the facility open,” Gottman said, “we were told, ‘No.’
“Over the past week, I have tried numerous times to contact an official at Graham Packaging, and have yet to receive any return calls,” the mayor said.
Gottman pointed out that corporate officials emphasize in their letter to local employees that the decision was not based on their performance.
The letter states, “The decision to close the Vandalia plant is not a reflection on the work force, but rather a result of the overall company strategy of plant rationalization and optimization of its network.
“These issues have resulted in an overcapacity situation in our plant network. Therefore, we are forced into consolidating our plant operations.”
Sopha Dilberakis, a spokesperson for the company, said that Graham anticipates it will begin releasing employees in early July. The plant is continuing to operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day, she said.
She said the business from the Vandalia plant will be relocated to other Graham Packaging plants, including those in Iowa City, Iowa; Chicago; and Belvidere, N.J.
Graham Packaging has 97 plants in 15 countries, and Dilberakis said some of the local employees could possibly have a chance to relocate to another Graham plant.
“We will be working closely with employees to identify other employment opportunities within the company for those interested, and will provide a severance package to all eligible employees (who) are unable to secure other employment within Graham Packaging,” she said.
Gottman said that the local economic development team met on Tuesday, and will be getting together again later this week to “discuss the future of the employees affected, and we will review leads provided by the state of Illinois in order to hopefully find another company to come into the facility and put the employees back to work.”
The local facility on Imco Drive has been producing plastic containers since the Ethyl Corp. began operations of its Imco Container plant there in 1969.
Ethyl sold its plastics group to Brockway Inc. in 1984, and the plant was known as a Brockway Plastics facility until Brockway merged with Owens-Illinois in 1988.
Graham acquired Owens-Illinois in October 2004.