PORT ANGELES — Westport Shipyard Inc. confirmed that some people were laid off from its cabinet making shop last week, but is mum about how many lost their jobs.
A woman who lost her job, but did not want to be identified, said she was in a group of 35 workers who were laid off from the Port Angeles facility.
Officials with the yacht-building company did not return several calls requesting comment.
But a prepared statement, written Thursday, was faxed to the Peninsula Daily News on Friday confirming layoffs at the plant located near William R. Fairchild International Airport.
It attributed the downsizing to reduced market demands, but did not say how many lost their jobs.
“While the number of employees affected by today’s actions is small relative to our total employment, the impact on each individual is very significant,” the statement said.
‘Regrettable situation’
“These are people that are caught up in the impacts of the economic downturn. This is a regrettable situation.”
The same statement was made in a January statement after an unidentified number of people lost their jobs at the cabinet shop early that month.
A worker who lost their job during that round of layoffs said they were one of at least six given pink slips.
Layoffs also occurred at the plant — which makes all of the interior woodwork for Westport’s yachts built in Port Angeles, La Conner, Westport and Hoquiam — in June.
The company also would not comment then on how many lost their jobs.
Workers at the Port Angeles yacht building plant on Marine Drive who spoke with the PDN said they hadn’t heard of any layoffs at their facility.
Yacht building plant
Westport General Manager Phil Beirnes said earlier this month that the Marine Drive facility was at full employment with three yachts in production and that no one had been laid off from that shop.
He also said during that interview that the company is bidding on contracts to build Coast Guard vessels to expand business.
Westport completed a $1.3 million, 16,500-square-foot expansion at the cabinet making shop in May 2009, which was expected then to lead to an expansion of its work force.
As of February 2009, the cabinet shop employed 274 people, and the yacht building facility employed 299.
The company has declined to give updated figures since.
Several rounds of layoffs have also occurred at other Westport facilities in the last year, including its headquarters in Westport.
No layoffs are known to have occurred at the Port Angeles yacht-building facility during that time period.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
