MT Picture Display Closes Horseheads Factory
The last CRTs rolled off production lines at MT Picture Display’s Horseheads, N.Y., factory last week, as unions representing 800 workers negotiated the final details of severance packages. MT -- a joint CRT venture between Matsushita and Toshiba -- moved to close the former Toshiba plant in Oct., consolidating production at a Troy, O., factory.
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Representatives of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1632 met Fri. with MT management to work out the final details of 2 severance programs. Details of those talks weren’t immediately available. One severance plan gives employees a week’s pay for every full year of service, up to $5,000, but without medical benefits, the Star-Gazette newspaper reported. The other option offers the same payment plan with no cap, an additional $300 and paid medical benefits for an unspecified time, the newspaper reported. MT officials at the Horseheads factory weren’t available for comment on Fri., but sources close to the company confirmed the plans. To be eligible for the 2nd option, workers must sign a release absolving MT of any legal liability. William Jackson, pres. of the IBEW local, said little progress had been made on the health care issues.
Workers face a Dec. 27 deadline for returning releases. After Jan. 1, about 80 workers will remain at the factory to continue maintenance. The workforce will shrink to 20 by late March and 5 a month later, sources said. The machine that seals the front and rear sections of a CRT shut down Dec. 15, while equipment that adjusts color processing was turned off a day later after completing a last order for 300-400 tubes. While some components from the Horseheads facility may be moved to the Ohio plant, most of the equipment will be scrapped, company officials said.
The 32” and 36” tubes that remained at the 19-year- old factory had come under increasing pressure. LCDs and plasma attacked 36”, while low-priced imports squeezed the remaining margin out of 32” flat-faced tubes, MT officials have said. The drop in prices for flat-panel displays may result in the disappearance of 36” direct-view TVs from the U.S. market in 2005, the officials have said. Production of 32” curved tubes was moved to MT’s Troy factory this year, joining 32” flat-faced and 36” curved, he said. After the layoffs, the Troy plant will employ about 800, sources said.
The Horseheads factory was created in April 1985 as a joint venture between Toshiba and Westinghouse Electric. The company changed its name to Toshiba Display Devices and then to MT Picture Display Corp. after formation of the joint venture in 2003. MT leased about 500,000-sq.- ft. from Viacom in a building that also housed Eaton Corp.’s Cutler-Hammer Div., which manufactures electrical products including pressure switches.
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As the Toshiba factory closed, CRT glass supplier Techneglas another victim of the shift to flat-panel display and off-shore manufacturing -- negotiated a short- term lease for warehouse space at its Pa. factory that’s expected to yield about $235,000. Valley Distribution & Storage, Laftin, Pa., leased 188,000-sq.-ft. of a 397,400- sq.-ft. building starting this month, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Columbus, O. Under the 6-month agreement, Valley will lease space to Procter & Gamble Co. Techneglas, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, wants to hire a broker to market the plant, company officials said. Techneglas closed the Pa. factory in Aug., laying off 700 workers. A 2nd facility in Columbus, O., shut down at the same time, while a 3rd in Perrysburg, O., was approved for closing this month.