TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. — On Monday, Senator Chuck Schumer was blunt when asked about his reaction to Sumitomo Rubber USA abruptly shutting down.
"I am angry at them," said Senator Schumer. "I am furious at them, they aren't treating their workers right."
Governor Hochul echoed those sentiments during a press conference in Albany Tuesday morning, commenting publicly on the closure for the first time since it was announced last Thursday
"This has been a real kick in the teeth to a community that didn't deserve this," Governor Hochul said.
Hochul, like other lawmakers, the United Steelworkers, and 1550 employees of the Tonawanda facility, didn't know about the closure until Sumitomo Rubber USA sent out a press release on November 7th.
"They did not telegraph this earlier," Hochul said. "They did not say 'if you can do this for us, we'll stay'. It was presented to us as a very firm decision."
Sumitomo Rubber USA maintains that the decision was finalized during a board meeting of Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (SRI) in Japan on November 5th.
By Thursday, SRUSA had mobilized a fencing company to install thousands of feet of fencing and had security guards in tactical gear stationed at various entrances to the Tonawanda plant.
Just before 10 A.M. est. SRI had issued the press release stating that production at the plant would be terminated.
" I am very concerned about every one of those workers," Hochul said. "They did what they asked to do. They showed up for their jobs every single day. They rolled up their sleeves, just like all my neighbors in western New York do when they go work at these factories."
Governor Hochul says she is "jumping in with our Department of Labor team to try and help people secure jobs."
A job fair for workers impacted by the Sumitomo closure is being held at the Williamsville Career Center on December 3rd between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
As for next steps for the 1200 hourly union workers that were let from from Sumitomo Rubber, the United Steelworkers Local 135L will be meeting with company officials on November 13 to discuss an effects bargaining agreement.
"Effects, bargaining is 'the plants closed, and this is what it looks like going forward forever,'" said Joshua Hall, president of USW Local 135L.
Union officials, like their counterparts in state and local government, are conceding that SRI has no plans to reopen the 100 year old tire plant.
SRUSA took over production at the Tonawanda facility in 2015, after a partnership between the Japanese company and Goodyear dissolved.
"Best case scenario is that we can get negotiate a good package for everybody to help them get through a little while until they find something else," Hall said.