Cortland's Pall Trinity lays off 10 percent of work force

CNY Business Journal (1996+), May 25, 2001 by Fitting, Beth

CORTLAND - Pall Trinity Micro in Cortland has laid off 80 of its 760 employees. According to Nelson Jacobus, director of human resources in the Cortland facility, 60 of the layoffs are in the shop and 20 among salaried employees.

A May 15 news release from Pall Trinity's parent company, Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL), announced that it was reducing its work force of 10,000 by 400, or 4 percent, by year's end. Jacobus says that "a major driver" of the Cortland layoffs "is the microelectronics industry." He explains that Pall Trinity in Cortland, among other products, makes filtration products and supplies for the electronics industry, "such as Intel and Motorola. Intel has laid off thousands, so the demand is down for our products."

Jacobus calls the business "cyclical. You remember that in late 1996 and early 1997, the same thing happened. Last year, we had a record year," he recalls, "but today we're cutting costs." In 1999, the Cortland engineering and manufacturing plant had sales of approximately $260 million, and it recorded a 5-percent growth in employment from 1998 to 1999.

The company hopes to rehire most of the employees who were laid off, says Jacobus, "but I wish I had a crystal ball" as to when that will be. "It's driven by the market."

The layoffs at Pall Trinity follow the recent announcements by circuit-board manufacturer Flextronics that it is closing the doors of its Conklin facility in June and by electronics fabricator Samnina that it will lay off 10 percent of its Owego work force.