The coming closure of the Glen-Gery brickyard in Marseilles appears to be from a quick decision. The company advertised job openings there in February and March. But some of those postings are now marked closed as of April 4, the same day the company notified the state of Illinois that it would lay off 38 workers starting around the end of this month.
Mayor Jim Hollenbeck offered help. He hasn’t heard back from Glen-Gery. He doesn’t want the site sitting empty for a long time and could put city resources into finding a buyer.
At one time, the company made 110 million bricks per year in Marseilles. But the 2008 recession hit hard and production fell to 14 million in 2011, according to reports in the Chicago Sun Times. Production had climbed back up to 27 million in the late 2010’s. Without giving figures, parent company International Brickworks said in outlook statements in 2021 and 2022 that its Midwest plants have ample capacity for growth—the positive view of having a lot of latent production capacity.
About three dozen people are expected to lose their jobs in the layoffs. Most of them are represented by the United Steelworkers union. They will be paid for 60 days, even those whose layoffs begin earlier as long as they remain available to work. The earliest layoffs are planned for around April 28. After June 4, the plant will be closed.
Various laborers, a kiln operator, seven maintenance personnel, and packagers are among the union members losing their jobs. Non-union layoffs will affect three administrators, a dispatcher, and two salespersons. Hollenbeck hopes many of them find work at the nearby Nucor Tubular. He also will ask Nucor if it wants to expand onto the Glen-Gery site.
For more comments from Glen-Gery on the closure, WCMY News reached out to its corporate office in Pennsylvania. We will provide them when we hear back.