Salisbury GE plant could be shutting down

SALISBURY, N.C. — The Salisbury GE plant may be shutting down.

Workers there make low voltage light panels.  In a statement to WSOC, GE said the Salisbury plant is "an underutilized low production site."  It's thinking of closing it this time next year and moving the work to Mebane, in Alamance County.

Eyewitness News is told 112 employees could lose their jobs, including a woman Ashleigh Jolly hopes will be her mother-in-law one day.  When asked if she's worried for her, Jolly said, "I am.  I mean, I think that business shouldn't shut down."

Realtors Karen Rufty and Tom Bost work across the street.

"We're losing so many jobs in Rowan County already that we really can't afford to lose any more,” Rufty said.

Bost said it affects them, too.

"We're out there trying to sell,” he said. “People don't have jobs, they can't buy."

Barber Vic Johnson said he'd lose business also because "some of [the workers] don't live actually in Salisbury, so I don't think they'll come back here to get a haircut."

GE blames "increased costs," "a changing market" and "a difficult economic environment."  It's giving workers there 60 days to suggest other ideas.

One person who seems to be a GE employee reached out to WSOC's Whistleblower line.  He didn't accuse GE of bluffing, but thinks the company is trying to pressure workers to agree to cut their own salaries.  Apparently, that's what GE employees in Iowa did a year and a half ago.

If the Salisbury plant does shut down, GE says it will help employees with benefits, severance pay and job placement.

WSOC