Contractors take brunt of downturn that will likely slash full-time workers and close plants
By BRETT CLANTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Dec. 14, 2008, 11:57PM
JOHNNY HANSON CHRONICLE
Chunks of road are recycled behind Onesimo Garza, an employee with Freeport's Vernor Materials, which contracts about 30 employees to the Dow Chemical Company.
Sweeping cutbacks by chemical makers are exacting a heavy toll on a large but lesser-known part of the industry's work force, the thousands of contract laborers who work alongside full-time employees at chemical manufacturing sites in Texas and elsewhere.
Dow Chemical Co., the nation's largest chemical maker, said this month it will cut 6,000 contract workers globally, nearly a third of its contract work force. That was after the company already had announced it would release most of its 4,000 contract workers at a huge complex in Freeport for three weeks starting Dec. 15. Elsewhere, DuPont said it will cut 4,000 contractors, while other chemical makers said they are making cuts as necessary.
The moves come in response to a recession-driven downturn in the chemical industry this year, and are part of broader cost-cutting actions that will also eliminate thousands of full-time jobs at the companies, close plants and slash output.
For Texas, the nation's biggest chemical-producing state, with nearly 75,000 people directly employed by the industry, the cuts will be painful.
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