More on Armstrong’s Plan to Halt Its Lancaster Ste

Lancaster, PA, Sept. 22--Armstrong World Industries Inc. said Wednesday it would stop making residential stenciled flooring at its Lancaster plant, triggering another round of layoffs there, according to the Lancaster New Era. The company said it anticipates that fewer than 50 people will be laid off due to the decision, because of job openings in other plant departments and retirements. Armstrong attributed the action to declining demand for stenciled flooring and a shift toward new products made with other processes, which Armstrong hailed in a press release announcing the news. However, a union leader lamented the latest round of job losses at the plant. "It's another sad day, not only for the individuals that it impacts but for the entire Lancaster community," said Jerry Eshleman, president of Local 285 of the United Steelworkers. Eshleman, noting that the affected union members have 24 to 26 years of service and earn on average about $20 an hour, said those workers will struggle to find comparable jobs elsewhere. And when local workers earn less, the local economy suffers, he observed. Local 285, which represents the plant's production workers, "remains open to sitting down with either the plant leadership or the corporate leadership to stop the downward spiral of jobs," Eshleman said. In 1990, according to newspaper files, Local 285 had 1,650 members. After numerous layoffs, including the elimination of more than 100 jobs last fall, the plant has 600 Local 285 members remaining. Wednesday's cutback has targeted 41 more Local 285 members, plus about a dozen members of the machinists union, and an unknown number of salaried workers, he said. How many of those workers end up being laid off remains to be determined, said Eshleman, who pledged to do everything in the union's power to "minimize the blow." Armstrong, in its press release, trumpeted the debut of nearly 100 kinds of vinyl sheet flooring made with its new "Inlaid Color Graphics" process in Holmsund, Sweden, and with its new "MasterWorks" process in Lancaster and Stillwater, Okla. Frank Ready, Armstrong senior vice president, said in the release: "Floors produced using these and other new technologies exceed the demands of today's consumers. They are more durable than ever before, easier to install and more realistic with rich, textured designs and beautiful contemporary styling." But Eshleman, who has criticized Armstrong in the past for importing flooring from its foreign plants while cutting jobs here, wondered why the new "Inlaid Color Graphics" process was not installed in the Lancaster plant too. "Once again, it's import material and export jobs," he said. The production of residential stencil flooring will end Sept. 26. The Lancaster plant is the only company facility to make it and has done so for more than 30 years. Eshleman said demand for residential stencil flooring peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then declined. Its slump was worsened when a new line of stencil flooring developed a yellowing problem in 1996, caused by a temporary switch of resin suppliers. The problem was resolved.