The Wilmington area suffered a major employment setback Thursday as Coty Inc. said it will shut down production at the former Del Labs plant in Rocky Point.
That action, plus the closing of Coty’s facility in Leland, will put 510 people out of work over the next 12 months.
Coty’s distribution facility at Rocky Point will remain open, said the New York-based cosmetics maker, which took over Del Labs in 2007.
It was the second major job loss here announced this week. MeadWestvaco said Tuesday that it will close its Wilmington beverage packaging plant, eliminating 110 jobs.
Production in Rocky Point will be phased out over the next 12 months with the loss of 420 jobs, said Cary Newman, general manager of Coty operations in Wilmington, who will also lose his job.
Employees were told of the closings Thursday, in advance of a news conference in Rocky Point at 4:45 p.m.
The Leland operation will close by Dec. 31 and 90 jobs will be lost, Newman said. He described the Brunswick County operation as promotional assembly and returns.
Coty is a major and respected employer in Pender County, and County Commissioner David Williams Jr. on Thursday called the shutdown devastating and “an utter surprise.”
“I’m just very disappointed. Not only are they a great employer in Pender County, it’s a trickle down” to people who depend upon the company and its workers for a living, he said.
Williams, who was out of town Thursday, said he had not been informed of Coty’s actions. “I am absolutely shocked. I had no warning,” he said.
“(Coty has) been nothing but an asset to the community,” he said. “If there is anything we can do as a county to keep them here, I’d like to do it.”
For its part, Coty “is doing everything that you can imagine” to help employees, Newman said.
Workers will get a generous severance package, and the company will establish an on-site center to help with job-seeking skills, Newman said.
Coty will use its large network of contractors and suppliers in North Carolina to find employees work, Newman said. Coty will continue to operate a facility in Sanford.
Newman said that local officials, including Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and New Hanover and Pender county commissioners, were informed of the decisions.
The company left messages with Brunswick County officials, Newman said.
Leland Mayor Walter Futch said he received a voice mail message Thursday informing him of the closing.
“Any one job that is lost is important,” Futch said. “I’ve informed our economic development director, and if (the facility) is available we will start trying to market it.”
Scott Satterfield, head of Wilmington Industrial Development said, “This is devastating for sure. Del/Coty has been a growing and extremely important company in this region since the mid-1990s.”
Satterfield, whose organization is charged with attracting a diversity of businesses to the Wilmington area, lauded the exposure that the company’s presence has given the area.
But he added, “This makes our mission even more of an imperative. We will find other operations that will establish here.”
Satterfield said his organization, also known as the Committee of 100, will have to maintain its “full-court press” to bring in employers and jobs.
Coty has filed a WARN notice with the state, which is mandated by the federal government to give workers 60 days’ notice of a closing or mass layoff.
The notice sets in motion job-assistance and other action by the Rapid Response Team of the N.C. Department of Commerce.
Jim Bradshaw, executive director of the Brunswick County Development Commission; Brunswick Commissioner Bill Sue; Pender Commissioners Chairman Jimmy Tate; and Mayor Saffo did not immediately return phone calls Thursday.
Email This Page!