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January 5, 2007
KraftMaid Cabinetry Inc. workers reacted with shock, anger and tears early Thursday morning when the company surprised them with layoffs, citing the slumping housing market.
‘‘There were a lot angry people leaving the building this morning. People said they have families. This is ridiculous to do this without any hint,’’ said Jerry Shaughnessy, a Howland resident who had nine months at the company’s Orwell factory.
Shaughnessy said he ‘‘literally cried’’ on his way home early Thursday morning, wondering where his next paycheck would come from.
‘‘I was afraid to come home and tell my wife. She didn’t take it very well,’’ he said.
The number of layoffs was unclear. Shaughnessy said workers mentioned about 400 total were idled, but Kathleen Volks, spokeswoman for Kraftmaid parent Masco Corp., said she didn’t have a specific figure for the layoffs, which included the plant in Sayre, N.Y.
Volks said the slumping housing market led to the layoffs. She noted housing starts fell 12 percent nationally in 2006, most of the decline coming in the second half of the year.
On Oct. 31, Masco lowered its full-year earnings outlook due to weaker orders for building products and services, plus a sharp decline in single-family housing starts in the last several months of 2006.
‘‘It was a very tough decision based solely on the housing and remodeling industry,’’ Volks said from Masco headquarters in Taylor, Mich. ‘‘We’re hopeful the industry will start to rebound in the first half of 2007.’’
Salaried workers who were furloughed were given severance benefits, while hourly workers have recall rights, Volk said. The housing industry will determine how long workers are laid off, she added.
Workers noticed signs of trouble in October when work shifts were cut to four days in October due to slowing demand for cabinets, Shaughnessy said. Work later picked up and employees returned to five or six days a week, he said.
The only warning this time was the appearance of executives in the plant who normally wouldn’t be there, he noted.
Shaughnessy didn’t wait long to seek work. He said he drove to the Home Depot store in Howland at 5 a.m. Thursday after leaving KraftMaid and waited for the home remodeling store to open. He then found out he had to apply online.
Looming Christmas bills make finding work critical, he said. Not expecting to be laid off, ‘‘We ran up the credit cards,’’ he said.
Health insurance is another concern, said Shaughnessy, who has two stepchildren, Jacob Wolfe, 9, and Brianna Wolfe, 10, from his wife, Lori. KraftMaid will provide health care insurance through February but ‘‘that’s it,’’ he said, adding his wife works but doesn’t carry medical benefits.
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