ExxonMobil Will Shut Manufacturing Plant

STRATFORD, CT-About 90 workers at ExxonMobil Chemical Co.'s manufacturing plant here lost their jobs on Wednesday as the Houston-based firm prepares to shut down the plant here by mid-2007. The firm's Films Business announced the closure of the plant, which makes oriented polypropylene films used for flexible packaging for snack foods and candies as well as for other applications and markets.

Company officials said that the plant closure will take place in two phases. The first was the immediate shutdown of one manufacturing line, which affected nearly 100 workers. After the closure, the 293,000-sf building and the 18.7 acres it sits on will be sold. A spokesman for ExxonMobil Chemical says no firm plans regarding the future sale have been made.

The plant at 495 Lordship Blvd. was purchased by the former Mobil Chemical Co. in 1973 from Diamond Shamrock, which previously operated a films plant there. The spokesman said that while employees at the plant have taken measures in recent years to improve the factory's performance and competitiveness, "the initiatives have not been sufficient to allow the facility to be competitive in today's oriented polypropylene films industry, which is suffering from structural over-capacity due to weaker than expected demand."

ExxonMobil's Film Business operates two other larger oriented polypropylene films plants in LaGrange, GA and Shawnee, OK. Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who was notified of the impending plant closure on Wednesday, directed the Connecticut Department of Labor to offer assistance to the affected workers.

"News of this plant closing drives home the point that disruptions in our economy affect people's lives and their ability to earn a paycheck and care for their families," Rell says. "I am pursuing policies that will create more jobs in our state and help us overcome temporary setbacks such as the closing of the Films plant."