Aberdeen, SD
An Aberdeen company that was fighting for workers earlier this year laid off 92 of them Wednesday.
A Molded Fiberglass official said the company is negotiating a renewed contract agreement with customer General Electric. And a letter laid off employees received sited shrinking wind turbine demand.
"They announced that they were having layoffs and all our hearts kind of sunk," Matthew Krawiec said.
"I thought maybe I'd be safe because I'd been there for two years and then I was the first one called in my group so I was pretty shocked about that," David Lout said.
In a letter from the company, Krawiec learned he’d receive a check for remaining paid vacation, time off and profit sharing benefits earned. He also has the option to continue purchasing health insurance through the company for a few months.
Still, it's hard for Jason Silvernagel who moved from Watertown when his employer announced it was cutting back.
"I quit there before they did their layoffs and moved here to Aberdeen and got hired at Wells Fargo Auto Finance. And then they announced that they were doing layoffs in December, or they were doing layoffs in March. So then I quit in January to go to MFG to avoid another layoff and then I got laid off today [Wednesday]," Silvernagel said.
Dan Thielsen with the department of labor says the Aberdeen area has nearly 1,300 listed openings ranging from part to full time and requiring a variety of skills.
"If they don't have a skill set here we could possibly retrain them into another skill set of other jobs too," Thielsen said.
Jessica Voegel hopes to land a job fast.
"Yeah I'm going to have to. I mean, I have two kids to support. Diapers aren't cheap you know," Voegel said.
Just like life in general which is motivation enough for Krawiec. He'd already called a few potential employers within five hours of being laid off.
Julie Johnson of Absolutely! Aberdeen said there's continued growth in jobs from other companies in the area. She's optimistic that growth will be enough to absorb the layoffs locally.
Community leaders are pointing fingers at Congress for the drop in demand. It hasn't extended a federal tax credit involving wind energy that's set to expire at the end of the year.
News
General
Courts
Web Only
Crime
Outdoors
Events Center
Non-Homepage
Boredom Busters
Pipeline
Positively KELOLAND
Technology
Hunger
Affordable Care Act
Shops
Flooding
Remembering 9/11
Drought
JazzFest
Spring Storm
Honor Flight
Spencer Anniversary
Copper Lounge Collapse
Hidden History
Founder's Day
Eclipse
Holiday
Custer Fire
Pheasant Fest
DoApp
Health News
Business News
Sports
Agriculture
Markets
Livestock
Crops
Politics
HealthBeat
Cancer
Children's Health
Heart Health
Wellness & Nutrition
General
Health Beat
Women's Health
RX Resources
What's Going Around
OTC
Diabetes
Recalls
Dental Health
Men's Health
Politics
South Dakota
Legislature
Budget
Congress
Taxes
General
Local
Campaign
President
US Senate
New Laws
US House
Iowa
Ballot Issues
Local Races
Minnesota
Gubernatorial
Education
Funding
College
Elementary
High School
Pre K
School Supplies
Middle School
Sports
Professional
College
High School
Sports Zone
Headlines
Summit League Tournament
Olympics
Super Bowl
Racing
All Star
Golf
NCAA
Business
Industry
Your Money Matters
Development
Gas & Energy
Legislation
Economy/Stocks
Employment
General
Health Care
Technology
Education Funding
Tourism
Banking/Finance
Housing
Transportation
Insurance
Meetings & Events
Retail & Restaurants
All Industries
On The Move
Shops
Agriculture
Holiday Shopping
Trendigital
Featured Stories
Eye on KELOLAND
Inside KELOLAND
Weather
Snow
Forecast
Records
Rain
Flooding
Drought
WX Corner
General
World News
Investigates
Sponsored
KELOLAND Living
Done
Opening existing...