Another 126 laid off from Remington Arms plant in Ilion
Tue, 11 Nov 2014 20:50:10 GMT — Another round of layoffs has hit Remington Arms. This time, 126 employees are being laid off from the Ilion-based gun manufacturer.
State Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney said voiced her distaste of the layoffs via her Twitter account.
â??Thanks Cuomo for killing NY manufacturing. 126 layoffs at Remington today. @RemingtonArms is oldest manufacturer in NY. #iconicremingtonâ??
Those employees are scheduled to meet with those from Workforce Solutions on Wednesday morning, Herkimer County Legislature Chairman Vincent "Jim" Bono told WKTV .
This follows 105 layoffs that were announced in August. Zachariah Johnson was one the employees who was laid off in August.
"It's going to cause a lot of stress for a lot of families around here. A lot of people depend on this factory for employment. I know a lot of people who work there still. This town is pretty much all employed there," says Johnson.
In the small town of Ilion, everyone knows someone who works at Remington Arms. Klarissa Pettengill's father has worked there for the past five years.
"Remington is the biggest part of this community but also with the different government changes and the gun laws and everything it's hard to stay here because of all the restrictions," says Pettengill.
Remington has been reeling since the passing of the controversial NY Safe Act which outlawed automatic weapons in the state, including the Bushmaster rifle which is produced at the Ilion facility.
Layoffs at Remington Arms not only impact the employees and their families, but the economy in the Mohawk Valley.
David Christian Asta is looking for a job and had originally wanted to apply at Remington Arms until hearing about the recent layoffs.
"Ultimately this is what's holding the valley up. If this thing goes under, I have a feeling the whole valley is going to suffer from it," says Asta.
"There a lot of families that work there that depend on this place. It's one of the biggest factories around here. This town is already in poverty and now that this place is going to be moving, there's going to be a lot of people moving out of here because there isn't any work around here," says Johnson.
The fate of the iconic facility, which will celebrate its 200 year anniversary in two months, is now uncertain.
