Pfizer lays off 72 workers at Pearl River Christian Livermore By Christian Livermore Times Herald-Record Posted: February 22, 2010 - 1:32 PM
PEARL RIVER — Pfizer has laid off another 72 workers at its Pearl River facility.
The workers, in the facility’s chemical division, will lose their jobs by May 21, Pfizer informed the state Department of Labor in a notice made public Monday.
The company has laid off 483 of the Pearl River facility’s 3,000 or so workers since it completed its purchase of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Oct. 15.
These numbers are approaching the 650 layoffs Rockland County officials were told to expect after Pfizer bought Wyeth, including 210 already planned by Wyeth before the buyout, though Pfizer officials still won’t publicly acknowledge the total number of layoffs they expect to make.
And Pfizer has not announced whether it will keep the manufacturing function at Pearl River. If it eliminates that, it would mean more layoffs.
Pfizer spokesman Chris Loder did not calls.
Ronald Hicks, president and CEO of the Rockland Economic Development Corporation, has heard Pfizer may announce a decision on the biotech portion of Pearl River’s manufacturing operations within the next 30 to 60 days, and on the consumer health product portion sometime around June.
He speculated the news on the biotech operation might be good, while the news on the consumer product division might be bad.
“I don’t know if we’ll fare well under the consumer health product division, because Centrum vitamins, I understand, are made in at least two other locations outside the state,” he said. “I can only imagine it being less expensive to manufacture outside of New York.”
Pearl River has been named one of the company’s five major research hubs worldwide. Up to 800 of the Pearl River site’s workers commute from Orange County.
