Rohm & Haas plans widespread layoffs

Rohm & Haas' new owner has notified the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania it expects a mass layoff at its Philadelphia home office starting July 8.

Dow Chemical Co., which acquired Rohm & Haas on April 1, sent the formal notice to the Bureau of Labor and Industry on May 8. It said layoffs could continue through Dec. 31 at the Rohm & Haas headquarters at Sixth and Market Streets.

Dow would not say how many layoffs are expected but told the state that the first three employees to lose their jobs would be two directors and a category manager.

In a letter to the Bureau of Workforce Investment, Dow said it would update the state "as additional information related to the mass layoff and scheduled separations becomes available," Dow human resources director Jenifer Reed wrote.

"This is all the result of our April 1 acquisition by Dow," said Rohm & Haas spokeswoman Emily Riley. "We are going through an integration process now, determining overlap among our employees in the Philadelphia home office."

"But we don't have a list," she said. "We don't have specific numbers. We are evaluating the respective workforces now."

The Inquirer reported May 5 that Dow was trying to sell the 350,000-square-foot, nine-story Rohm & Haas headquarters. Real estate sources said that CB Richard Ellis was shopping the property and that Dow hoped to raise about $35 million from the sale.

Dow chief executive Andrew Liveris said in March that due to the economic downturn, Dow would have to cut costs deeper than "we originally envisaged." Liveris said there would be 3,500 additional jobs trimmed after the consolidation and they would come "primarily from Rohm & Haas."

In addition, these other area companies recently notified the state of layoffs:

Food-service giant Aramark will terminate 185 employees July 12, when a residential and retail dining food-services contract at the University of Pennsylvania ends. Penn and Aramark said the decision was "mutual." Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler said the cooks, cashiers, food service, and general-utility workers losing jobs may be invited to apply for jobs with the new vendor, Bon Appétit Management Co. of Palo Alto, Calif. Aramark will still provide food services at the Steinberg Conference Center and the Palestra.

Concord Steel Inc. is laying off about 50 employees at a production plant in Essington due to a decline in customer orders. Human resources director Jim Jones said that the plant reduction was temporary and that workers would be recalled, based on seniority, as the economy improved. The jobs include welders; crane, machine, and forklift operators; laborers; maintenance people; and painters. "Certainly we are hoping business conditions improve, but probably not for another quarter or two," Jones said. About 15 employees remain in Essington.

Idearc Media L.L.C. will terminate 98 clerical and production employees in a publishing office in Norristown by Oct. 31 and move the work to St. Petersburg, Fla., and Los Alamedos, Calif. Idearc publishes Verizon Yellow Pages.

Olympus Corp. of the Americas in Center Valley, near Allentown, will lay off 119 employees in its Diagnostic Systems Group in early July. Olympus said the layoffs were permanent but did not affect the majority of employees working in Center Valley.

BearingPoint Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, will close a Radnor office and terminate 13 employees, between June 5 and the end of the year. The employees include analysts, marketing managers, an assistant controller, finance director, finance manager, and procurement administrator.