Dow cuts workforce by nearly 10 percent

Dow St. Charles has laid off nearly 10 percent of its 1,100 employees in response to Dow Chemical’s decision to cut 5,000 jobs worldwide.

Dow Chemical made the move to shut down 20 plants and several businesses across the globe to reign in costs because of the economic recession. The 5,000 jobs that were cut account for about 11 percent of Dow’s overall workforce, which is inline with the just under 10 percent employee reduction in St. Charles.

“Last week, we began making notifications and informing those that were to be laid off because of Dow Chemical’s previously announced reduction,” Dow spokesman Tommy Faucheux said. “The amount of jobs that we have to cut here is inline with the 11 percent reduction Dow made globally, so we expected to be within these numbers.”

There are 18 separate processing units that make up Dow St. Charles, and Faucheux says that each business was asked to look over their operations and make any necessary cuts. Though Dow has laid off just under 10 percent of its employees, more cuts could be coming in the future.

“Dow will continue to monitor the economic situation and make any more decisions from there,” Faucheux said.

Dow Chemical’s decision to cut 5,000 full-time jobs, close 20 facilities and suspend operations in 180 plants is expected to result in $700 million in annual operating cost savings by 2010 and add to previously announced cost synergies of $800 million in the same timeframe, according to Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris.

“The global economy is now feeling the full effects of the same economic issues that have plagued the U.S., resulting in a drop in demand not only in the U.S., but around the world,” Liveris said. “We are going to take necessary, bold and proactive measures to manage our transformation through these extremely challenging times.”