Contractors laid off at Haverhill Chemical

By Portia Williams

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As many as 75 workers of Tristate Building Trades Union, who have been working at Haverhill Chemical Plant, have been notified that they will soon be laid off, according to Mark Johnson, business manager for TBTU.

“We have an on-site representative there, and his name is Jon Collins, he’s a member of the Portsmouth Pipefitters Union. Jon told me yesterday evening it looked like our people would be laid off either tomorrow or sometime this week for sure,” Johnson said. “Our members of the Building Trades Union, we don’t actually work for Haverhill Chemical, we work for a contractor.”

He said many as 200 workers from TBTU have worked at the Haverhill Chemical Plant at one time.

“I don’t know for sure exactly if they laid them all off, or just partial layoff up there, but I can tell you this, we generally have on average 75 members that work there full time year-round,” he said. “And those numbers go up and down, it varies. Six weeks ago we had close to 200 people there working in outage time, what they call turn around time.”

Haverhill Chemical Plant is crucial to the local area.

“That plant is obviously very important to us. It’s an income generator, and I would like to see that plant be viable, and profitable to provide jobs for our community,” Johnson said. “What exactly has happened there, I don’t know.”

Mike Crabtree, Scioto County commissioner, said on Tuesday he was searching for clarity of the fate of Haverhill Chemical Plant.

“I know that there have been a lot of rumors floating around, but we have not gotten anything official from Haverhill,” Crabtree said. “We are concerned, obviously, because it would have a huge effect on our community. Right now, we are just trying to get some statements from somebody to let us know what’s going on.

Crabtree said they would continue to wait for information to come directly from Haverhill Chemical Plant.

The Portsmouth Daily Times made an attempt to speak with staff of the Haverhill Chemical Plant on Tuesday, as the plant personnel declined to comment.

Reach Portia Williams at 740-353-3101, ext. 1929, or on Twitter @PortiaWillPDT.

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