Toledo company to sell plant, idle 77 workers

1/9/2004

Erie Steel Treating Inc. has notified the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services that it plans to sell its plant at 5540 Jackman Rd. and eliminate the 77 jobs at the facility that treats steel for automotive components, construction equipment, and machinery.

In its notice to the state under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, the company said the plant is being closed and employees terminated as early as Jan. 31 because of “severe financial difficulties.” Erie is a division of FPM Heat Treating, of Elk Grove, Ill.

The notice said negotiations are under way with a buyer who “has tentatively agreed to offer employment to at least a majority of Erie Steel's full-time employees.” The company's general manager yesterday declined to elaborate on the letter, and a call to the Illinois headquarters was not returned.