BELLE, W.Va. — A longstanding coal-associated business in eastern Kanawha County has notified its workers of plans to reduce its workforce in two months.
A spokesperson for WorkForce West Virginia confirms Walker Machinery in Belle recently gave its employees WARN notice. It wasn’t immediately known how many workers the company is considering for the furlough in mid-July.
Walker Machinery gets much of its business from coal companies and their equipment needs. Thousands of coal miners have been laid off during the last two years and more and more businesses connected with coal are feeling the impact.
Walker cut 15 percent of its workforce last November. The company cited “slow economic conditions, deterioration in market conditions, and no signs of future improvement for some time in West Virginia and the coal industry” at the time for its decision to layoff 77 workers spread across its nine facilities in two states.