By WECT Staff | January 3, 2020 at 4:27 PM EST – Updated January 3 at 5:20 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – An unspecified number of employees at Corning Incorporated’s plant in Wilmington will lose their jobs later this month.
Joe Dunning, a spokesperson for the company, confirmed on Friday that a “very small percentage” of the plant’s workforce will be laid off on Jan. 16. He declined to release a specific number, citing competitive reasons.
“We are taking actions to address current macro-economic headwinds that include adjusting our costs and capacity while, at the same time, maintaining focus on key growth initiatives,” Dunning said about the layoffs in a statement. “This small reduction in workforce is in response to a few factors including some uncertainty in the optical communications space as well as to help reposition our talent to focus on the high-growth parts of our business.”
Dunning added that the company will provide “benefits continuation” to affected employees.
As of Friday, a WARN notice had not filed with the N.C. Department of Commerce.
Federal law requires businesses that employ at least 100 workers, excluding part-timers, to file a WARN notice if they are about to conduct a mass layoff that affects 50 employees or more when that number represents at least one-third of the workforce.
Dunning said the number of affected employees did not rise to the threshold needed to file a WARN notice with the state.
Corning is New Hanover County’s 11th largest employer with over 1,000 employees, according to data from the N.C. Department of Commerce.
The Wilmington plant is one of the largest fiber-optic manufacturing facilities in the world.
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