No layoffs at P&G plant planned

Business Today

Procter & Gamble Co., headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, currently has no plans for a layoff at the Cape Girardeau County facility.

Larry Stahlman, a spokesman at the local Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co., said some employees have been asked if they would be interested in a voluntary separation in the future.

"That future is still to be determined. At this time we don't have any forced layoff plans," he said.

Mike Jennewein, human-relations manager of the local plant, said no plant worker will be dismissed as part of Procter & Gamble Co.'s plan to eliminate 5,600 jobs in the United States.

The Cape Girardeau plant, which recently opened towel and tissue lines to go along with disposable-diaper lines, employs between 1,650 and 1,675 workers.

"Right now, we expect any changes in staffing to be done by retirements and attrition," said Jennewein.

Meanwhile, P&G is in the process of eliminating 5,600 jobs across the nation, its largest cut in its 163 years, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal.

And, in efforts to minimize the number of pink slips, P&G announced it is offering buyout packages to many of its employees, in effect, calling for volunteers.

Overall, 24,000 job cuts have been announced over the past two years by P&G, once regarded by workers as a job-for-life employer. In March of this year, P&G chief executive A.G. Lafley said the company needed to cut 17,800 jobs, with the bulk of the jobs - 11,800 - to come overseas.

A third of the U.S. job cuts companywide will come from manufacturing.

Under the buyout package, U.S. employees who have worked at P&G at least a year are eligible for benefits that include severance pay, health care, outplacement assistance and retraining reimbursements, depending on how long the employee has been at P&G.

Employees had until May 15 to request the buyout package.

About 2,600 people in the U.S. requested the package information. The company should know by mid-July how many people are leaving. Then the company will look for ways to make the rest of the cuts, including layoffs.