DeWITT — General Super Plating Company of DeWitt closed March 31, bookending a month that saw all 95 of its employees lose their jobs. The job cuts began at the end of February and continued throughout March, according to Michael Rusinek, a staff representative with the IUE-CWA labor union, which represented all of the […]
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DeWITT — General Super Plating Company of DeWitt closed March 31, bookending a month that saw all 95 of its employees lose their jobs.
The job cuts began at the end of February and continued throughout March, according to Michael Rusinek, a staff representative with the IUE-CWA labor union, which represented all of the company’s factory workers (about 84 employees, according to Rusinek). By the time the doors of the plant, located at 5762 Celi Drive, closed on March 31, he says, just one employee remained.
Proper notice of the job cuts in accordance with the state Department of Labor’s WARN Act was not given to the workers, Rusinek contends. The act requires that employees be given 60 days’ notice prior to cuts. The WARN notice for General Super Plating was dated April 20, nearly three weeks after the plant closed, and more than seven weeks after job cuts began on Feb. 27.
Rusinek also says that the employees did not receive the 401(k) funds, or vacation and personal pay that are owed them. He was scheduled to meet with representatives of American Industrial Acquisition Corp. (AIAC) of Greenwich, Connecticut on Thursday, May 7 to negotiate the receipt of those funds. AIAC is the venture-capital firm that purchased General Super Plating last year, according to Rusinek.
General Super Plating specialized in applying finishing coats to products made of plastics and other materials. The firm served the appliance, automotive, electrical, electronics, marine, medical, military, personal care, and plumbing industries, according to its website. The DeWitt plant encompassed 77,000 square feet.
General Super Plating was founded in 1932, and had been family-owned for decades, according to Rusinek, until it was sold to a different venture-capital firm a couple of years ago.
About six months after the first sale, says Rusinek, General Super Plating was sold again, this time to AIAC. Not long after, two of the company’s largest clients took their business elsewhere. Prior to those losses, says Rusinek, business at General Super Plating had been steady.
Representatives of General Super Plating and AIAC could not be reached for comment by press time.