Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - Employees from Sumitomo Rubber in the Town of Tonawanda are struggling to find new jobs after the facility abruptly closed down this past week.
Gary, one of 1,550 union workers without work right now, says he's facing challenges that he thought he'd never have to deal with again.
"I had to make a resume for the first time in over 30 years. I've been looking at truck driving school. I've been getting information on that. The hardest part is filling out these applications. Every site has a different questionnaire, so you're doing it multiple times. I probably did about 20 already today, so it's just time consuming, and hoping you don't mess it up," stated Gary in an interview with WBEN.
Gary believes Sumitomo could have better prepared employees for the closure. He suggests the situation would be very different if the company had shown more empathy and demonstrated a willingness to negotiate with Erie County and New York State.
"I just wish it was handled from the company a little classier. Not rubbing it in our face, boom, here it is all once. It could have been a gradual thing. It could have been maybe negotiated a little better," Gary stated.
Dave Wyse, another Sumitomo employee, says he's more concerned about his fellow co-workers than his is about himself.
"I'll be OK. I'm not worried about that. But those young families that we got, a neighbor of mine, he's the sole income provider. He's got family of five that he's got to support. Another one, he's got three kids, and his wife works part time, and this guy worked a ton of over time. He was a hard worker, and I feel bad for them. That's what I feel bad for," Wyse stated.
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New York State Senator Rob Ortt says the company still has questions that he expects to be answered sooner rather than later.
"It is inconceivable to me that a company, albeit a global company, a Japanese company, could, without much notice, completely shut down their North American facility. This is not just a big deal in Tonawanda, it's the North American facility. If they could just pull the plug on that, there had to be a rationale as to why, and while it's a private company, I would like to know or get some sense as to how this happened, why this happened. Whether it's our federal officials or our state officials, I think both sides of the aisle, we have to find out why that was, because I think that's important," stated Ortt.