By Stephen Smoot
Until Friday morning, Allegheny Wood Products seem to bestride the timber and wood production world like a colossus, operating on a global scale from its home base in West Virginia.
By Friday afternoon, a rumor from Morgantown of the company’s impending shutdown set local social media on fire.
Friday evening saw every trace of the former behemoth erased from the digital realm. The website, Facebook page, and Linked In, all gone.
All that remained were advertisements on Indeed for laborers and truck drivers, posted only 10 and 12 days prior. A half century after the original owners established a mill in Riverton, the company’s existence, strangely and secretly, just ended.
The closure took local officials by surprise. AWP officials had given no warning that anything was amiss even days prior to the closure. West Virginia Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael told West Virginia Metro News the closure was “very sudden and unfortunate.”
Carmichael described former owner John Crites, Jr., as “heartbroken and very concerned for his employees.” He also pledged that the state will try to either get the company “on a solid footing” or find another company that can assume some or all of AWP operations.
WCHS television news in Charleston quoted former AWP Cowen site employee Robert Williams as saying, “People called me and told me that they were up there cleaning out the mill and that the bank foreclosed on them.”
West Virginia law, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, specifically, requires that employers with 100 or more employees must provide 60 days’ notice for plant closings and layoffs.
AWP employed approximately 850 in several different sites across the entire state, but provided no such warning. The company employed a total of 106 workers in Grant County, 43 at the Riverton mill, and 14 in Hardy County, although it also had facilities in Preston County and elsewhere.
Carmichael said that Governor Jim Justice ordered the creation of a rapid response team to assist displaced workers. The team will hold two meetings on March 7, one at 10 a.m., the other at 1 p.m. Dislocated workers need only attend one session.
Additionally, Workforce West Virginia encourages both displaced workers and employers needing workers to sign up for the statewide virtual job fair taking place on March 6. The live event will last between 1 and 3:30 p.m. and is open to all seeking jobs or workers, not merely those affected by AWP.
At 8 a.m. on March 4, job seekers can get an early view of those recruiting for jobs. They may access booths and upload resumes or curriculum vitae until 5 p.m. March 8.
The virtual job fair site may be accessed via the Workforce West Virginia website.
Nothing is more painful for a community than the facts of “what happened.” Rumors still swirl over the “why,” however. As the answers to that question come out, they will provide only cold comfort to those who, until last Friday, thought they had a secure position and future, but they are still vital for a community that took pride in and supported the company for decades.