KGP Logistics, with two facilities in Warsaw, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Friday with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, notifying the agency the company will lay off 300 workers on April 17, or within two weeks of that date.
The company has a facilities at 2000 W. Winona Ave., but the majority of workers will be from its 3454 N. Detroit St. operations center.
Workers at the Detroit Street facility were notified in writing on Monday, and told there would be no call backs, according to one person who did not want to be identified. There was no discussion of severance packages being made available. The layoffs were widely discussed on social media.
KGP general counsel Matthew Drevlow said in the WARN sent from the corporate headquarters in Fairbault, Minn., that the layoffs are from the loss of a major client.
“Due to a sudden decrease in business from a large customer for Assemble Wire Test work, KGP anticipates conducting a permanent reduction in force of approximately 300 employees at its Warsaw, Indiana, facilities.
“KGP received the initial indication of the business decrease on Feb. 5, 2019, and monitored closely over the subsequent few days to determine if it was a temporary decline. At this time, the decrease has persisted and necessitated the need for KGP to provide notice to your agency and affected employees.
“Because the extent of the business decline is unknown, we cannot confirm whether the Detroit Street location will close or not. We anticipate, however, that the business decline will impact enough employees to constitute a mass layoff. As mentioned above, based on the information available today, we anticipate that 300 employees will experience permanent job loss. The employees are not represented by a union and bumping rights do not exist. However, tenure, along with skill set, performance, attendance and other factors, may be taken into consideration as a factor in determining which employees to lay off. If KGP experiences a return of the business, these employees may not be impacted or may be rehired, but this cannot be determined at this time.
“The primary positions impacted will include manufacturing and assembly employees as well as related office personnel. KGP will remain in operation with the remainder of its employees following this reduction in force.”
Local officials at KGP declined comment, referring the Times-Union to a person in New Century, Kan., near Kansas City. That person was unavailable at press time.
Alan Tio, CEO of Kosciusko Economic Development Corp., said, “I’m very sad to hear this news. Our partners at WorkOne will get involved to help with job search and placement.”
