The final cut: Schrade closes, putting 250 out of work

The Daily Freeman ^ | 07/30/2004 | Jonathan Ment

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

ELLENVILLE - After struggling through economic downturns, security concerns that made it unlawful to travel with some of the company's products and - to hear neighbors tell it - decades of mismanagement, knife and tool maker Imperial Schrade sent the last of its production workers home for good on Thursday.

Company officials could not be reached for comment, but local estimates were that some 250 employees received letters about the shutdown and left the U.S. Route 209 plant after a 9 a.m. meeting.

By noon, the smell of mildew wafted through the unmanned window of the plants' reception area - a room that at that appeared to have been recently renovated with new carpeting and fixtures.

With crossed arms covering an identification badge, an employee in shirt and tie said the official company comment on the closing was "no comment." An officials statement would be released, he said, though none had come by Thursday evening. Other staff members could be heard talking behind closed doors.

IMPERIAL Schrade, which turned 100 this year and once was among the largest private-sector employers in Ulster County, laid off more than 150 workers last year but had recently begun hiring again.

Employment at the Ellenville plant numbered near 700 in early 2001 but had dropped below 300 in recent months after a series of deep cuts that began later in 2001.

Schrade's 548,000-square-foot factory was added to the Kingston-Ulster Empire Zone earlier this year, and Catherine Maloney, zone coordinator, said Schrade cited employment of 382 as of Dec. 31, 2003.

Among the factors hurting Schrade's bottom line was that knife orders fell sharply after the terrorist hijackings of Sept. 11, 2001, led to sharp objects being banned from airplanes.

TALKING outside a coin laundry on Center Street in Ellenville, Susan Horvath said she used to work at Schrade and that production usually increased at this time of year to meet demand for holiday orders.

"They really did nice work," said Horvath, who worked for the company for about 10 years, ending around 1989.

"I think a lot of them were expecting it," said Winslow Wiggins, another former employee. "Imports really can't compete."

"I worked there four years ago, but only for four months," said Wiggins, noting it was his second job at the time. "I had to take a cab there, and if I was two or three minutes late, they docked you."

DOWN THE street, at a bar called The Other Place, a female patron ordered another drink with, "Howie, you working? 'Cause I'm not."

"She was laid off this morning," said bartender Howie Damms. "Quite a few guys came in. I don't think they'll be coming in now. ... It's really going to hurt our business."

"They might as well put a 'Closed' sign on the whole town," said Mike Barret, also at the bar. "'Shut down due to no industry.'"

"If you don't have a car, you're not going to survive," said Carl Hoar, on the stool next to Barret's.

"Schrade hadn't given them a raise in three years," he added.

TOWN OF Wawarsing Supervisor James Dolaway called it "a sad day in the town of Wawarsing."

"We, as the Town Board, feel for the families that will be affected by this closing," Dolaway said. "It's going to have an effect on our town." Ellenville is a village within the town of Wawarsing.

FAWN Tantillo, director of the Ulster County Office of Employment and Training, said Schrade failed to notify the state Labor Department about the impending closure, and she was surprised by the news because Schrade had indicated a need for more employees in recent weeks.

"We had people here who hoped to get their old jobs back," said Tantillo, a former Ulster County legislator.

Dislocated workers from Ellenville are generally eligible for job training, and will receive it if money becomes available, she said.

Chester Straub, president of the Ulster County Development Corp., said discussions between Schrade and such groups as Empire State Development and the Catskill Watershed Corp. have been ongoing in an effort to help Schrade access money for training or secure government contracts and other resources.

IMPERIAL Schrade's roots date to the 1870s and the Ulster Knife Co. of Ellenville. Imperial Schrade is a combination of that firm, the Schrade Cutlery Co., which was founded in Walden in 1904, and the Imperial Knife Co., formed in 1916 in Providence, R.I.

The mergers produced the Imperial Knife Associated Cos., later renamed Imperial Schrade Corp.

[OKSooner]

With a penny taped to it? I thought the recipient was supposed to give YOU the penny?

[razorback-bert]

Ditto.

[dandelion]

That's so the recipient can give you the penny back, to pay for it.

We've always done it that way - I think it's "insurance", so outsiders who haven't ever heard of such a thing won't feel offended if they are told they have to "pay" for it...