State Representatives Jason Perillo (R‑113), Larry Miller (R‑122) and State Senator Kevin Kelly (R‑21) expressed disappointment at the announcement that Shelton’s PerkinElmer would layoff 75 employees.
The manufacturing company, headquartered in Waltham, Mass., announced the layoffs in conjunction with the moving the manufacturing of some of their product lines from Connecticut to sites in Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Click here to read a Hartford Courant article about the layoffs.
The layoffs are schedules to take place in the latter half of 2012 and into 2013. PerkinElmer employs five hundred people in the Town of Shelton, and the news sent shock waves through the Valley community at the end of last week.
The legislators jointly sent a letter to Department of Labor Commissioner Glen Marshall on Friday afternoon expressing their concerns over the layoffs, and requesting that the department’s Rapid Response Team be dispatched to educate the displaced workers about job search assistance, unemployment benefits and training opportunities.
They also expressed concerns that the entire Shelton-based PerkinElmer manufacturing operation may be in jeopardy of being moved overseas which would result in a devastating loss of jobs and hardship to families in the area.
“This is just the latest in what has become an alarming trend in the exporting of manufacturing jobs from Connecticut to overseas,” said Representative Perillo. “And this one really hits home. This business has been an anchor in the corporate community in Shelton and in the entire valley region. The layoffs they have just announced, and the potential layoffs that may still come are a bruising hit to hardworking employees and their families who have helped make this company what it is. Connecticut continues to compete poorly in this area and without significant structural change to our policies we will continue to hemorrhage these kinds of jobs.”
“This is the kind of news that sadly demonstrates that Connecticut is not doing the things it needs to do to keep manufacturing jobs right here at home,” said Representative Miller. “We need to renew our commitment to making Connecticut competitive in manufacturing on the global stage or shocking headlines like these will become more commonplace. We owe it to the great workers at PerkinElmer and other companies like it.”
“I am discouraged to hear that PerkinElmer will be laying off seventy-five employees,” said Senator Kelly. “This decision negatively impacts the many well-trained and hard-working families who call Shelton home. As a state, we must lower the costs of doing business so that manufacturing companies are encouraged to stay and invest here instead. Any further layoffs would be devastating to our community, and I will continue to advocate for working families who rely on these well-paying manufacturing jobs.”
The legislators stressed that while larger policy initiatives are needed to address a systemic problem with the state’s policies toward business, their immediate focus is on making certain that displaced employees from PerkinElmer had every state resource available to them to transition them to new employment.