BUCYRUS—It was announced on Tuesday to local media that 81 employees of the GE Bucyrus Lamp Plant could be out of a job by March 6.

According to a letter by Tibor Voros, Chief Human Resources Officer of GE Lighting, a Savant company, in East Cleveland, Ohio, to Mayor Jeff Reser on Jan.6, employees at the Bucyrus plant were advised of Lighting’s intent to cease operation of its LED A-19 line.

The letter reads:

Dear Mayor Reser and Sir or Madame:

This letter serves as written notice per the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq. and Ohio Rev. Code 4141.28(C) (collectively “WARN”) that Savant Systems, Inc. (“Savant”) employees working at the GE Lighting, a Savant company Bucyrus Lamp Plant located at 1250 South

Walnut Street, Bucyrus, Ohio 44820 (“Lighting”) were advised today of Lighting’s intent to cease operation of its LED A-19 line. Per the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the IUE-CWA and Savant, should the union request, a thirty (30) day decision bargaining period may commence after notification. If decision bargaining is not successful, LED A-19 operations will cease on or about March 6, 2020 and Savant will permanently layoff 81 full-time employees as of that date.

All impacted employees are represented by IUE-CWA. Some of the employees subject to this notification are entitled to exercise bumping rights under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Notification has been provided to Will Evans, President, IUE-CWA Local 704 in person and Carl Kennebrew, President, IUE-CWA.

Reser said the loss of 81 jobs at General Electric will have a negative impact on the community and is hopeful that a resolution will keep the line and the employees’ jobs in place.

”Losing the 81 jobs at General Electric will negatively affect the General Fund by about $100,000 but we are hopeful that the union and management will reach an agreement that will keep the line in place in Bucyrus for a long time,” said Reser. “Bucyrus has a decades-long tradition of providing an exceptional workforce for GE and GE in return has been a good partner for the community.  These 81 jobs are important to the city and we stand ready to help in any way we can to keep these persons employed.”