Anyone
affected by the impending layoffs who wants to speak to a reporter
should contact Jamal Thalji at thalji@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3404 or
Jeff Harrington at jharrington@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8242.
Source: http://www.tampabay.com
TAMPA — PEMCO World Air Services is laying off 474 workers at its
aircraft maintenance complex at Tampa International Airport after the
loss of a major contract with United Airlines.
PEMCO officials
could not immediately be reached for comment. However, based on recent
employee head counts, the cuts represent the bulk of the company's
operation.
"We're saddened by this turn of events," said Tampa
International CEO Joe Lopano in a prepared statement. "No one likes to
see layoffs."
In a state-required mass layoff notice sent to
Florida officials, PEMCO executives said the "recent sudden cancellation
and withdrawal" of all of United's repair business caught it off guard.
"While
PEMCO would have preferred giving more notice, this loss of a key
customer's business was not foreseen by the company, which has had a
long relationship with UAL," company director of human resources Colleen
Picard wrote. "Although PEMCO's Tampa facilities will continue
operations, these layoff(s) are expected to be permanent."
The
news comes just five months after PEMCO filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
reorganization, blaming a tough economy and a decline in the number of
airline maintenance, repair and overhaul orders.
At the time, the company promised to continue to operate in the normal course of business without interruption.
The
cuts rank among the single-largest layoffs statewide this year, second
only to a largely seasonal layoff of 608 workers in June by a
partnership controlled by strawberry grower Gary Wishnatzki.
PEMCO
has been the largest airplane maintenance and repair company at Tampa
International, operating out of two cavernous hangars for airlines such
as United and JetBlue. While most airlines keep a small crew of
mechanics in Tampa to perform overnight repairs and maintenance, planes
requiring more complicated repairs spent much more time being worked on
in PEMCO's facility.
When it arrived on the scene in 2008, it was
viewed as a major coup. The company leased the old US Airways hangar
that had been vacant for six years, ever since US Air had filed for
bankruptcy and cut 300 workers at the repair site.
In 2010, PEMCO
expanded into the airport's other big jet-repair facility, the former
Delta Air Lines hangar. Delta had abandoned the facility in 2005 and
eliminated 300 jobs there as part of a $240 million cost-cutting plan.
PEMCO moved its headquarters to Tampa last year from Dothan, Ala., with pledges of continued growth.
"We
intend for our Tampa facility to be the company's flagship," then-CEO
Wake Smith said at the time, "and we see Tampa as a better market to
attract the sort of executive talent we need to lead the company."
But
according to Tampa International, PEMCO owes the airport about $188,000
in rent for the hanger space. About $126,000 of that was owed before
March's bankruptcy filing. Since then, the airport said, PEMCO had paid
its monthly $77,608 rent in May, June and July. However, as of Thursday,
the company had yet to pay August's rent, which is now due.
But
PEMCO owes money to more than just Tampa International. When the company
filed for bankruptcy, according to court records, it owed its creditors
$12 million, including the airport and Impact Industrial Supplies, a
supplier of airplane parts and equipment in Tampa.
According to
the layoff notice filed Thursday, the job cuts would take place between
now and Aug. 15. According to PEMCO's letter to the state, 328 of those
jobs are employed by the company and 146 are contract workers.
Those
set to lose their jobs include: 172 aircraft mechanics, 100 sheet metal
mechanics, 49 avionics technicians and 34 quality inspectors.
Anyone
affected by the impending layoffs who wants to speak to a reporter
should contact Jamal Thalji at thalji@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3404 or
Jeff Harrington at jharrington@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8242.
Source: http://www.tampabay.com
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