Freedom Plastics sale leaves questions
JANESVILLE — Jeff Weissbuch sat in a Rock County courtroom Tuesday afternoon to see the sale of Freedom Plastics and find out if he would lose his job.
The pipe handler watched a dozen attorneys and company executives negotiate the sale of Freedom Plastics for more than two hours, knowing they controlled his fate and the fate of 80 other employees.
"This is no the economy to be laid off in," Weissbuch, 34, said. "It's just been very rough on people, for employees and their families."
He learned that Freedom Plastics' assets would be sold to four companies for a total of about $11.5 million.
The employees' jobs remain up in the air.
Decided in court Tuesday:
-- Westlake Chemical of Houston will pay $6.3 million for the Janesville pipe manufacturing division.
-- Harrington Corp. of Lynchburg, Va., will pay $1 million for the Janesville fabrication division.
-- Silver-Line Plastics of Asheville, N.C., will pay $3.8 million for the Florida division.
-- NACO Industries of Logan, Utah, will pay $400,000 for equipment in Idaho.
Judge Kenneth Forbeck approved the sale.
Dave Hansen of Westlake Chemical said it was too early to comment on whether the pipe manufacturing division in Janesville would remain in operation and continue employing about 55 people.
"It's very early, so it's very difficult to say precisely what's going to happen here," he said.
The company will evaluate its options in the next couple weeks and make a decision, Hansen said.
Mike Harrington of the Harrington Corp. said he intends to operate the fabrication division in Janesville and retain its 25 employees.
Freedom Plastics makes PVC pipes and fittings and supplies the wastewater, plumbing, irrigation and industrial markets. It's suffered with the depressed construction economy and growing costs of materials.
Freedom Plastics entered a court-supervised receivership sale in early February in hopes it could stay in business in Janesville.
Then the company's receiver notified the state that more than 100 Freedom employees in Wisconsin and Florida would be laid off in April unless a buyer steps forward.
Georgia Gulf Corp. and Silver-Line Plastics were the high bidders at the first auction for Freedom's assets.
But a second auction was held Monday because the first bid was "substantially less" than the $20 million Freedom owes the bank.
Bank of America, Freedom's primary creditor, agreed to the second bid.
Although Weissbuch's future at Freedom Plastics remains unknown, he hopes he can keep his job.
He wonders if his pay could change, if his benefits could change or if his seniority will change.
"It's still up in the air," Weissbuch said. "Until we talk to reps from Harrington Corp., nobody knows what's going on."
Apr 10, 2009 at 5:31 p.m.
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hey hdfp,, the folks at Gm said the samething,and look where it got them??
Mar 22, 2009 at 11 a.m.
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i just hope we all can keep our jobs because we have all gotten realy good at doing whatever and whenever to get things done fast and efficiantly. im from the pipe side and all i can do is hope for the best. we are the best at we do and i hope that is a great factor for the new owners to keep in mind when they make thier dissicion on the future of the plant on both sides of the street
Mar 21, 2009 at 8:52 p.m.
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i agree also, rumers just make it worse, as for Dave- i hope he gets to be the man in charge again, we were all a great team. we all did what had to be done. he bought us a new basketball hoop with his own money so we had something to do on break, thats from a man who knew we worth it. i feel bad for the managers and office people that lost their jobs, they have familys at home also, and if you have looked out there for a job right now, its not good. we hear all this about the fab plant, what about the pipe plant? you guys have any news?
Mar 21, 2009 at 6:42 p.m.
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Right on tguy.
Mar 21, 2009 at 5:02 p.m.
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Hey guys.When these kind of things happen
you get all kinds of false rumors,bitterness,
and back stabbing. We all want to keep our jobs no doubt.The way I see it they need us
to run fabrication. Not just one or two but
all of us.We may not agree with what a fellow
worker does at all times but all of us are what made fabrication as good as it it today.
We get the parts out when we need to. Cutting
each other down or spreading false rumors
won`t help anything. We all want our jobs
back.I am just thinking of this time as a
temporary layoff. As for the other jobs I
feel very bad for the ones who won`t make it.
You all made the company run great. Dave if
you don`t get called back It was a pleasure
working for you. You let people do what they new they had to do.Good luck. I hope to see
you all back in a couple weeks.
Mar 21, 2009 at 1:16 p.m.
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i myself think its a bad situation right now, i was told on friday we are done till the owners make their decision, so we will wait. no need to bash anyone, it does no good right now, but starting rumors that you know nothing is terrible. i hate to see whats happening to all freedom workers, we all worked hard to get where we are today, and a shout out to dave- you were, are still the man behind the plan, no matter what anyone says. steve also worked hard to keep everyone a job, so i will be one to say thank-you. when he asked to not take our raise, the man teared up, that shows you that he did care. thanks again steve!
Mar 21, 2009 at 8:12 a.m.
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Not surprising. As I have said all along, no matter who buys Freedom Plastics, there is no reason for them to keep unnecessary overhead...admin, accounting, HR, cust. service. Such is life.
Mar 21, 2009 at 6:22 a.m.
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please guys . Keep to yourself what you like and what don't you like . Stay focused and safe.Hope everyone gets their job back.
Mar 20, 2009 at 10:22 p.m.
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i also like falcon. he is a great person no matter what anyone says,
Mar 20, 2009 at 8:48 p.m.
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Thought you all might like to see what's posted on www.harcofittings.com
Harrington Corporation has contracted to purchase the fabrication division of Freedom Plastics located in Janesville, WI. Freedom entered bankruptcy in February after suffering sales and profit declines due to falling construction economy and volatile material prices. The pipe plant in WI was purchased by North American Pipe Company.
Harco plans to operate the WI location and continue selling to Freedom customers. Administration, accounting, HR, customer service and sales functions will be located in Lynchburg.
Mar 20, 2009 at 8:10 p.m.
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That's not true...I like falcon and I know others who do.
Mar 20, 2009 at 3:16 p.m.
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Hey Falcon. You should be the first to go.
Nobody there likes you.
Mar 20, 2009 at 7:22 a.m.
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Teamplayer70....unfortunately, I did know what was going on there and was one of the people laid off. In fact, my department saw something like this coming a long time ago....210...check the accounting building number.
Mar 19, 2009 at 10:39 p.m.
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if you only knew what was going on, that was part of freedoms downfall. steve wanted to keep everyone working, so it put freedom in a situation of running out of money. if they would have laid off more, they might have been able to make it thru this tough time. when there is no work to be done, they can't pay people to clean. we are all hopeing for the best, we will wait and see what happens from here.
Mar 19, 2009 at 6:13 p.m.
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TEAMPLAYER70 & LEDZEP --- Now is a good time to retract those comments!
Mar 19, 2009 at 11:36 a.m.
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Think about it, we would have been long gone way before now if some of the people didn't take the layoffs. we were saving the company money, which let us retain our jobs. for people to say we won't have a job, is just just senseless, and shows the intellengence of the person spreading such rumors. i agree ledzep, people need to wait and see whats happening before making comments they know nothing about.
Mar 19, 2009 at 5:13 a.m.
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I heard they're going through everyones records to see who took early outs & voluntary layoffs. They may not have jobs.
Mar 18, 2009 at 8:11 p.m.
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Was he wrong unknowncomic guy? Didn't sound like you went to the court hearing.
Mar 18, 2009 at 4:52 p.m.
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Sounds like it may be ok.
Mar 18, 2009 at 4:49 p.m.
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They interview a guy who hasn`t been there in 3 months.
Mar 18, 2009 at 4:38 p.m.
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How sad... This economy has wreaked havoc in Janesville. How many more manufacturing plants can close here, before Janesville and the surrounding communities become ghost towns?
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