Editorial: Voluntary layoffs seem smart for ATI
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Layoffs are never easy.
Whether they are about a company closing down entirely, stepping back from the size and scope it once had or just going through a temporary downturn, layoffs are tough on everyone. They hit with the iron fist of being fired but wrapped in the velvet glove of soft-pedaling.
But maybe the hardest part of some layoffs is the uncertainty. Layoffs put a worker in a kind of limbo. Will you be called back when things get better? Should you look for another job? What is the next step — and will that one be pulled away unexpectedly too?
Workers at Allegheny Technologies Inc. are going to be feeling that. In fact, they may be experiencing it already, but with the added bonus of feeling a sword hanging above their heads, not knowing who will feel it drop.
ATI announced Monday that there would be layoffs over the next four months. Both union and nonunion employees could be affected. There were no numbers of how many jobs could be hit. There was no information about when the layoffs would happen.
And maybe that’s because there are other cost-cutting measures being tried, just like ATI spokeswoman Natalie Gillespie said. They are going to try eliminating shifts and adjusting crews in the different divisions, including the Hot Rolling and Processing Facility in Harrison — better known locally as the Brackenridge works.
We know that the company has already planned to make some sacrifices. Three of the well-known stainless steel vehicles housed in Harrison have already been hauled away for a September auction.
But there are 524 employees living in limbo now, trapped between the company’s announcement and a lengthy timeline when that sword could fall. There is something ATI could do about that.
“We continue to fight to have the company reinvoke voluntary layoffs, which will give the senior guys the option of being laid off and help preserve the young guys’ jobs,” said Todd Barbiaux, president of United Steelworkers Local 1196.
Voluntary layoffs could allow people to plan. They could allow employees to have a say in their future. It might even be the smart money move.
School districts facing financial problems don’t have the option of closing the doors and sending the kids home, but they are often confronted with personnel issues as costs rise and enrollments shrink. When they hope to address the issue through attrition rather than layoffs, they do so by seeing who might be ready to retire.
Barbiaux is concerned that younger employees could leave the business amid layoffs, something that won’t help the industry in the long run. At the same time, an employee who has been on the job for 30 years probably makes more than someone who has only been around for a couple of years.
Placing a voluntary option on the table allows everyone — veterans and rookies alike — to take a good look at the situation and make informed decisions, rather than just waiting to be told someone made it for them.