PRICHARD, W.Va. — A Wayne County auto parts plant plans to ramp up production in the coming weeks with the hopes of laid off employees will agree to return to work.
The Sogefi plant in Prichard furloughed approximately 290 workers in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic after its customers, the big automakers, reduced production. Allevard Sogefi USA General Manager Troy Thomas said he’s concerned some workers might not agree to return because their weekly unemployment benefits, which includes an additional $600 a week through the CARES Act, is more than what they normally earn.
“I understand how they feel about missing out on the richer unemployment benefits, by the way we’ve already increased their pay temporarily by $200 a week to try and equalize that, but as our customers resume production we have some concerns that some of our employees may not be willing to come back to work,” Thomas said during an appearance Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Troy Thomas, manager of Sogefi Auto Plant, talks with @HoppyKercheval about how their facility is handling the pandemic. WATCH: https://t.co/jmMe7bOYY9 pic.twitter.com/ZcRuLEHJDw
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) May 11, 2020
The company has continued to pick up the cost of health insurance for the workers during the furlough.
The plant has continued to operate during the pandemic at 20 percent production with approximately 70 employees. Thomas said Sogefi’s customers which include GM, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler, Toyota, Subaru and Volkswagen plan to resume production by the end of this month or early next and month and they’ll need the parts Sogefi produces.
“We can’t be the company that stops the supply chain of the total automotive industry so we’d have to hire other workers,” Thomas said.
He said it wouldn’t be fair to those new workers to replace them with the former workers when their unemployment benefits expire. The additional $600 a week under CARES is currently scheduled to end July 31.
Thomas said Sogefi has good workers but these are challenging times. He said the laif off workers will have to make personal financial decisions.
“It’s not easy to turn away that money but long-term we hope they understand the value of a job,” Thomas said.
Sogefi’s business was very strong before the pandemic, according to Thomas. He said they believe it will be slow to return to pre-crisis levels this year but they hope to bounce back to 70 percent levels by the end of summer.
Thomas said two things that you need to strong auto sales, low gas prices and low interest rates, are in place. He said he hopes consumer confidence also returns which would result in a lot fo activity at the Wayne County plant.