ILION, N.Y. — The Remington Outdoor Company, Inc. (ROC), parent of Remington Arms, on Monday announced the layoff of 105 people from its plant in Ilion.
Teddy Novin, director of public affairs for ROC, confirmed the layoff figure in a Tuesday email message to the Business Journal News Network (BJNN).
Remington on Feb. 17 had announced the “consolidation of multiple company plants and production lines” into its manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Ala., Novin said in a separate statement emailed to BJNN on Tuesday.
The consolidation included the company’s Bushmaster and R1 lines from the plant in Ilion.
“Yesterday’s reduction in force is a result of this strategic business decision and a softening market,” said Novin.
In its expansion to Huntsville, ROC announced plans to create more than 2,000 new jobs within the next 10 years, George Kollitides, chairman and CEO of Remington Outdoor Company, said in a news release posted on the Remington website.
“This additional capacity is essential to fulfill demand and introduce new products. Having watched our company grow from 2,400 employees in 2008 to 4,200 employees by the end of 2013, a five year, 75 percent increase, it is easy to see why we’re investing now,” said Kollitides.
The announcement didn’t come as a surprise to at least one state lawmaker.
New York State Assemblyman Marc Butler (R–Newport), who serves the 117th Assembly District including Herkimer County, called the announcement “deeply disappointing” in a statement his office released on Monday.
“While the company in its statement attributed the job shifts to current market conditions, I believe that the transfer of the Bushmaster line resulted in some part from it falling under the provisions of Gov. Cuomo’s illegal Safe Act,” Butler contended.
The Safe Act is short for the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, strict gun-control legislation passed by the New York State Legislature in January 2013, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com