Mayor James J. Fiorentini > Press Release

October 1, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Mayor Calls Closing of Lucent’s Manufacturing Operation in North Andover “A Great Blow to the Area”

HAVERHILL- Mayor James J. Fiorentini today called the closing of the Lucent plant in North Andover “a great blow to the area” and said his heart and sympathy went out the workers who would be laid off. The Mayor also decried the refusal of Lucent management to agree to the union’s request that management share in the sacrifices that have to be made to keep the plant open.

The Mayor, who earlier put together a task force to help workers if they were laid off, said he was extremely disappointed that Lucent had rejected the union’s offer to make millions of dollars in cuts:

“The company asked the union to make concessions in order to keep the plant open. The union made millions of dollars in concessions, and Lucent is closing the plant anyway. It is disappointing, to put it mildly. What is most disappointing is that the company said that they would not agree to the union requests that management wages also be frozen. If we are going to keep manufacturing jobs, it can not be just the lower level workers who suffer pay cuts and wage freezes. It is just wrong that we are asking the working people to take pay cuts, while the top level managers refuse to share in the sacrifice.” said the Mayor.

Earlier this year, the Mayor convened people from various State, Federal and local agencies to see what assistance would be available in the event the plant did close. The Mayor said he would ask that the team be reconvened. “These are our people, and we want to do everything we can to help them” the Mayor said.

Fiorentini said he would ask other State, Federal and local officials to write to Lucent to urge them to reverse their decision. “We need to keep manufacturing jobs here in the United States, and, in particular, here in this region. Whatever we can do to assist, we intend to do it.”