Fulton County manufacturing plant closing

Another supplier throws in the towel. A Fulton County manufacturing plant that builds plastic interiors for U.S. automakers is permanently closing. All 100 employees at Johnson Control Injection Molding, formerly Plastech will be out of a job in March.

The mayor of Wauseon received a letter from the manager of the JCIM plant yesterday. It says JCIM is permanently closing the facility in the middle of March. Attached to the letter is also a list of the mass layoff.

Wauseon Mayor Jerry Dehnbostel says, "With the economic situation, I don't think anything is totally unexpected. Of course, it was nothing we wanted to hear."

The reason for the closure is the manufacturer simply can't sell its plastic product.

A spokesperson for Johnson Control says, "We're doing business in a challenging automotive environment. We're dealing with lower product volumes."

"That's going to be another hundred people on the unemployment rolls until they can find something," says Mayor Dehnbostel.

With Fulton County's unemployment rate already at 9.2, it may be a while.

John Weber, a restaurant owner in Wauseon, says he's had to cut back his own staff beginning in November. Now with 100 more jobs disappearing from the area, he expects even more business to evaporate

We have learned a number of the layoffs involved union jobs, specifically UAW jobs. To add insult to injury, the mayor says there's no provision that allows for the displaced workers there to transfer to other Johnson Control plants.

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