Pittsburg not only city to feel strain of business leaving

On Tuesday, Superior Industries announced that it would be closing its Pittsburg office, eliminating 600 jobs and one of Pittsburg’s largest employers.
The situation for Pittsburg is not unlike one that hit Independence, Kan., in the last 15 years. First, the Atlantic Richfield Company, a company with 150-200 employees and a seven-digit payroll, moved to Houston. Shortly afterward, Independence lost Emerson Electric, an employer that had between 300-400 jobs.
“They represented a very large payroll and a large contributor to a number of non-profit groups in town, and those funds were no longer available,” said Jim Kelly, executive vice president of Community National Bank in Independence. “A lot of people did stay in town, and we did have some early retirement packages, so the population didn’t suffer as much as it could.
“But it did have an impact, an impact over time in how active those employees were in supporting the community not only monetarily, but with their personal help in different activities over town,” Kelly said. “It was a readjustment for sure.”
Kelly said ARC’s location downtown had helped to fuel several downtown businesses and eating establishments.
“The thing that they did that was great was that they made a large payment to the organizations before they left, and they left some notice so that we weren’t as hard off,” Kelly said. “The one thing that it did do positively is that it brought the community together in terms of focus. We lessened our reliance on one business and had some aggressive recruitment to replace that payroll.”
Independence eventually did locate another big business, landing Cessna, which has more than 700 jobs.
Parsons also faced an employment issue when the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant cut jobs following the Gulf War. Ann Charles, then the editor of The Parsons Sun, said the plant reached its height with 3,800 jobs in 1968 during the Vietnam War, and had as many as 1,300 employees in 1991.
“There’s always been a history of gearing up to accommodate the needs of war, then laying off afterward,” Charles said. “Every one of those times is difficult.”
Charles, who is now the deputy director of the Local Redevelopment Authority for the plant, said the employment now is higher than it was seven years ago, with the plant’s production at 200 people, or close to 1,100 under its Gulf War benchmark.
But Parsons and the county didn’t feel the full pain of the setback — Charles said one of the advantages of the plant was that it drew about 50 percent of its employees from a broad regional base. Still, she said it did cause problems.
“You have your friends and neighbors and families sitting without jobs,” Charles said. “You hope that you don’t lose them to find work somewhere else.”
Charles said the plant was still humming along.
“The plant is very stable,” Charles said. “That’s probably one of the biggest misconceptions. Dan Zimmerman is still very much in production.”
Charles said Parsons was more devastated when the railroad left.
“That was 500 jobs out of the diesel shop,” Charles said. “We lost a lot of people out of the community at the time. You try to do the best you can, and you hope you can keep as many of those people in some other positions. They might not be in their ideal jobs, but you hope you can keep them at home.”

Kevin Flaherty can be reached at kevin.flaherty@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 Ext. 134