North Tonawanda, NY (WBEN) - Manufacturers throughout New York State are dealing with a new reality that has stripped their ability to operate.
On Sunday, a state-wide order went in to effect that called for a 100% workforce reduction, excluding essential services. That will shutter most plants unless they can shift to providing medical equipment.
But that’s not as easy as flipping a switch.
“Right now if we wanted to change our whole operation it would be totally impossible,” said Bob Confer, Owner of Confer Plastics. “We would be looking at Millions of dollars of investment, and also changing the electrical infrastructure of the plant, so it’s not something somebody can do with immediacy.”
Confer said the news was easier to handle with preparation, but still hits hard for all of his employees who are without work for an indefinite period of time.
“What we allowed people to do was to really ramp up their vacation pay, so we allowed them to take that out in bunches so they had the funds necessary to weather the storm, and we’re also covering 100% of the health insurance while we’re off.”
Still, the unknown of how long the ban on “non-essential” work will last has left employers, and their employees in the dark as to how long they’ll have to stretch their emergency funds.
Confer said he’s planning on some sort of restrictions lasting through May and June, but still needs some sort of clarity on what the future holds to be able to compete with businesses around the world.
“It’s heartbreaking, it’s financially painful, but for the time being I accept it as being necessary. We don’t want to hurt the susceptible populations… I’ve been accepting and planning for a shutdown extending four or five weeks. I’m comfortable, I just hope we don’t go too far into it.”
On the bright side?
We have already seen a tremendous push to eat local and support restaurants going through a trying time. Could that mindset expand to other products?