Carter Machinery has announced another round of restructuring, but has not yet released the number of employees who may be impacted in the company’s two Mercer County, VA locations.
In a release issued today from corporate headquarters in Salem, Va., the company said the depth and duration of the coal industry depression has reached a point requiring more aggressive cost structure alignment.
“As a result of continued deterioration of the Central Appalachian coal mining industry and the fact that we envision no signs of improvement in the foreseeable future, we have made the very difficult decision to align our locations, employment level, and overall cost structure to the market realities we face.”
“One of our key objectives has been to retain our highly capable employees, including an initiative to make available opportunities for employees in our coal mining stores to move to the eastern part of our territory, where customer activity is stronger,” the company said. “This initiative included relocation support to help with move expenses. We’ve been successful in moving many of our talented employees to several branches within our territory.”
Carter’s priorities during this time, the company added, is to “include respect and compassion for our employees and their families and continuing to serve our customers effectively.”
According to BDT Online, the company laid off 33 employees in April.
Janet Bailey, the county’s economic development director, said she knew Carter was making another cost-savings move, but she doesn’t know how many employees will be impacted.
“They told me the same thing (as in Thursday’s press release),” she said. “I tried to touch base with them to see if there was anything we could do or have representatives from the state visit, but they would provide no more information.”
“There’s five or six now,” he said. “At one time it was between 20 and 25.”
Carter’s other Mercer County operation is the Caterpillar facility on Clover Dew Dairy Road in Princeton.
