By Lily Bearings
©2004-2008
The Bucyrus Timken plant is calling back 55 workers.
"Some workers went back this week, some come back to work on Monday and another group will be back to work on Feb. 5," said Lorrie Paul-Crum, spokesperson for Timken.
Plant manager Jon Mazander said 29 workers will be placed in the bearings plant and another 25 in the distribution center, which is set to close later this year.
"Of those 25, about half of them are replacing people who have retired," Paul-Crum said. "The other 12 or so workers are considered temporary.
"The positions in the bearing plant are considered long-term positions. All positions and call-backs are based on seniority."
She said some of the open positions are due to a retirement incentive program the company recently implemented, as well as an increase in customer orders.
"We've seen some increase in demand levels and are staffing accordingly," she said. "Everything is demand dependent. There is still a lot of uncertainty with this economy, but we thought we would see a falloff in the fourth quarter but did not."
According to Mazander and Paul-Crum, while there has been no growth over the past year, the gross domestic product has increased to 5.4 percent.
"A 5-percent increase is great and this is a little over 5 percent," Paul-Crum said. "The gross domestic product is a basic measure of a country's overall economic output, so all companies look at that."
Further reason for optimism: 15 local workers who were called back in late October are still working.
"We want to keep the plant strong, serve our customers well and try to employ as many as possible for as long as possible," Paul-Crum said.