Recent layoffs at the Genesis Alkali trona mine in southwest Wyoming have some in the community scratching their heads about why and asking what’s on the horizon for one of the state’s largest — and, arguably, most stable — mining sectors.
In early November, the company notified 30 employees — among more than 1,000 — they’d lose their jobs in December, adding that the total number of eliminated positions would be about 40. Those who got pink slips this month included new hires who’d just showed up for onboarding and training the day before, according to a union representative.
In fact, trona operators in the state — including Genesis — have been in expansion mode, including two major new drill-and-pump mining projects south of Green River. Genesis revived the Granger production facility a few years ago, adding about 300 workers and, in 2022, received $665,000 from the state to help train new employees.
Yet company officials point to a softening global market for soda ash — which is derived from trona to produce glass, baking soda and myriad other products — for the layoffs.
“That’s the reason for the layoffs — because the global market is not doing well this year,” Genesis Alkali spokesman David Caplan told WyoFile, adding that about 60% of the company’s Wyoming production is exported overseas.
That reasoning doesn’t sit well with Marshal Cummings, president of United Steel Workers Local 13214 at the mine. The downturn in global demand was evident this past summer, he said, and yet the company has brought on new hires since, including the day before layoffs were announced.
“That is irresponsible,” Cummings told WyoFile. “It just doesn’t sit very well with the union.”
The union implored company officials this summer to prioritize buyouts over layoffs if a reduction in workforce was unavoidable, Cummings said. Many employees nearing retirement would consider such an offer, he added, and lower-seniority employees who received pink slips this month have fewer resources to weather a layoff and remain in the community.
“It’s not fair for these people who are just establishing their roots in southwest Wyoming,” Cummings said. “These other [trona mining] companies you see hiring right now — they’re all in the same industry. We’re all within 20 miles of each other. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s not fair for these people who are just establishing their roots in southwest Wyoming.”
Marshal Cummings, United Steel Workers Local 13214
One recently laid-off employee was advised to apply to a contracting firm that’s going to do work at the Genesis mine, Cummings said.
“The people that are getting laid off are joining the contractors to come back to the same place that they got laid off from,” he said. “The people that come out as contractors, they’re making a lower wage. So it’s discounted labor in [the company’s] eyes. They don’t have to carry their benefits. That’s a fight we have all the time with the companies.”
The union is working on potential next steps, Cummings added.
Cummings said he also suspects that deferred maintenance has led to production challenges and may have factored in the company’s decision to impose layoffs.
Caplan with Genesis Alkali said he could not comment on many of those assertions, but he said maintenance issues were not a factor in the layoffs.
“We have a good capital budget that we set aside to fix all this stuff if it breaks, because it’s very important for us to get that rock out of the ground and process it on the surface,” he said.
Though the global soda ash market can swing on geopolitics and myriad international drivers, Caplan said, the industry remains fairly stable and is expected to recover and even grow.
“This is basic economics — and we’ve been here before,” Caplan said. “We can’t be in denial that this [downturn] is going on. So we take action, and then expect that it’s only a matter of time — not if, but when — the market will recover.”
Wyoming is home to the largest trona deposits in the world, according to the Wyoming State Geological Association. The state produced more than 16.6 million tons in 2018, and the trona industry employed nearly 2,400 people.
BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to WyoFile. Our work is funded by readers like you who are committed to unbiased journalism that works for you, not for the algorithms.
The post Union questions ‘global downturn’ explanation for trona mine layoffs appeared first on WyoFile .