January 19, 2015
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Pfizer Inc. , the biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York, has informed the New York State Department of Labor that it will be laying off workers at its plant in Pearl River, N.Y. The filing was made on Jan. 15, and the reason cited for the layoffs was company restructuring. A total of 50 people will be affected as the layoffs roll out through April.
Ten of the 50 people are non-union workers, while 40 workers belong to the Local 95c of the International Chemical Workers Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers union, according to The Journal News.
A Look at Past Layoffs
On Oct. 22, 2014, Pfizer announced that it would be laying off 16 employees at the same plant in Pearl River, N.Y., as cited in a filing with the New York State Department of Labor. A total of 13 of these employees were not a part of any union at the time of the announcement.
The plant had a total of 1,330 workers when the news broke, and company restructuring was deemed the reason for the layoffs.
Sizing Down
New York isn’t the only area where Pfizer has seen its numbers boom, then dwindle. Since 2013, the company has been sizing down its staff at its Groton laboratories in Connecticut, according to The Day.
Back in 2011, Pfizer had 4,500 employees at its Groton and New London locations. It announced that it would be reducing its workforce to less than 3,400 around this time, and by 2013, only 3,700 employees were at the Groton campus.
That being said, Pfizer Spokeswoman Lauren Starr told the news source that there were no further reductions planned at the Groton location, which she said was of “central importance” to the company.
John Beauregard, executive director of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board, told The Day that the job reductions by Pfizer meant hard times for the rest of the labor force. At the time, the region was still recovering from the 2009 recession.
Despite the cuts that Pfizer has made over the past few years, it continues to see its stock rise. On Dec. 15, the company announced a $0.28 dividend on Pfizer’s common stock for the first quarter of 2015.
“The dividend increase demonstrates our commitment to returning capital to shareholders and is supported by our continued confidence in the business,” said Ian Read, Pfizer chairman and chief executive officer.
