Eastern Plating in Newport, Tennessee, says it will furlough all 119 of its employees after suffering damage from Hurricane Helene and the ensuing floods.
Eastern Plating notified the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Oct. 1 that it was temporarily laying off the workers and is not sure when it can resume production.
“At this time, the company does not have a full assessment of the extent of the damages suffered and, therefore, is uncertain about the duration of layoffs,” says the department.
The DLWD says a collective bargaining agreement does not represent the employees at the facility and “do not have bumping rights,” which is a seniority system where the rights of workers with greater seniority whose jobs are abolished to replace workers with less seniority.
DLWD says a “rapid response team” with the East local Workforce Development Board would work with the workers and the employer to minimize the impact of the layoffs.
Eastern Plating was founded in 1983 and has 25 plating and finishing lines in a 250,000-square-foot facility. The company specializes in finishes for the automotive, building and hardware, appliances, heavy equipment, military and aerospace, and electrical industries.
Some of its customers include Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler Chrysler, John Deere, Nissan, Lockheed Martin, Honda, Subaru, Whirlpool, Trane, Mercedes Benz, and Bosch.
