Teves to rehire workers

Continental Teves plans to rehire about 25 workers after the troubles of auto giants General Motors and Chrysler had forced the company to possibly consider additional layoffs this year.

“The information that I have is that the plant is actually planning to bring back a number of employees — a couple of dozen would probably be an accurate figure — that had been on temporary layoff,” Continental spokeswoman Kathryn Blackwell said Saturday.

In May, the company notified local officials of the possibility of further layoffs at the plant. Notification was required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act. That law mandates that companies inform local officials when layoffs of more than 50 people are planned or if the number of possible layoffs exceeds 30 percent of the company’s total workforce. The company had considered laying off about 25 people as early as today, but ultimately decided against the move after issuing the required notification.

“What we filed … is a conditional WARN notice and that basically is just a preparation in the event that we would have to issue a layoff that would fall within the WARN categories in terms of percentage of workforce,” Blackwell said.

She stressed that notification does not mean layoffs are imminent. “But given the industry, we did file a number of conditional WARN notices based on Chrysler and General Motors bankruptcy and continued reduction in customer volume.”

In February, 40 hourly workers and seven salaried workers were let go in Culpeper and a fourth production shift was also eliminated. At that time, the company said there were no plans to lay off any more of the plant’s approximately 250 permanent workers. And in December, reduced orders prompted the company to temporarily idle the plant for about two weeks.

But with both GM and Chrysler emerging from bankruptcy and propped up with cash from the federal government, their renewed stability has apparently renewed demand for Continental’s products. The Culpeper plant on Lovers Lane produces electronic braking systems for automobiles.

“Frankly, it’s looking better for the Culpeper facility,” Blackwell said, noting that the plant was continuing to fill orders during a corporate holiday production and administrative break that began in late June and was scheduled to continue through today.

Continental Teves operates manufacturing facilities worldwide. The company is headquartered in Germany and operates in Europe, Asia and North and South America.