Ogdensburg to lose 82 jobs starting in fall
OGDENSBURG — BreconRidge Manufacturing Solutions is closing its operations here beginning in October, leaving 82 people without a job.
On Thursday, the Ottawa-based company announced that the plant, which manufactures and repairs telecommunications equipment, would begin shuttering operations Oct. 26 and end them completely by Jan. 31.
The announcement came in the form of a WARN notice, part of the state Department of Labor's new Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. WARN requires companies to give three months' notice before initiating a mass layoff. Had the company not given that notice, it would have been required to pay employees back pay up to three months, as well as a fine to the state.
Earlier this year, BreconRidge was purchased for about $54 million by Sanmina-SCI Corp, based in San Jose, Calif.
Fearful that the ownership transition could cost jobs here, officials from the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority and the city of Ogdensburg sent a letter to Sanmina officials June 3 touting the low-interest loans, financing packages, tax incentives and on-the-job training the agencies could provide.
BreconRidge has received grants and financial assistance since its arrival here in 2001, when it bought out Mitel, which started operations in 1975.
"Our local development partners ... are all willing and excited to work together to ensure the presence and success built by Mitel and BreconRidge in Ogdensburg continues for many years with Sanmina," the letter read.
In 2005, BreconRidge expanded its Ogdensburg location, promising to hire 100 additional workers. It did so with the help of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants offered by several St. Lawrence County agencies to help pay for a new building and for the training of new employees, according to Times archives.
On Thursday afternoon, a lone red pickup truck sat outside the BreconRidge office on Commerce Park Drive, one of the company's two properties in the commerce park. A man walking out of the building said he had no comment about the closure.
At the company's main office at 120 Chimney Point Drive, doors were locked by 3:30 p.m. The plant manager directed comment to Sanmina's press office.
Sanmina and BreconRidge officials did not respond to numerous phone calls and e-mails requesting comment.
Officials for the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, which runs the commercial and industrial park where BreconRidge is headquartered, also could not be reached for comment.
Sanmina is a publicly traded company that touts itself as "the manufacturer behind the brand." The company serves the automobile, renewable energy, defense, multimedia and industrial markets, among others, according to its website. It reported $7.2 billion in sales in 2008, the last year for which data are available.
