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Camillus Cutlery closes its doors for good at 3 p.m. eastern time today.
This is from today's Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard:
Camillus Cutlery's Era Comes to Close
Embattled manufacturer to shut its doors for final time Wednesday, February 28, 2007
By Tim Knauss
Staff writer
From 1942 to 1945, Camillus Cutlery Co. made more than 15 million knives for U.S. soldiers. The company's 700 employees filled three shifts.
After the war, the cutlery thrived making Boy Scout knives, hunting knives and a variety of other blades.
But Camillus Cutlery has been decimated in recent years, the victim of tough competition from foreign manufacturers.
At the end of business today, the company will close, leaving its remaining three dozen employees without jobs, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, the union representing company workers.
"This place used to be an excellent place to work," said Westcott, who took her first job at the cutlery nearly 30 years ago. "It's very upsetting."
Westcott said she does not believe workers will receive a severance package. The managers and owners of the family-owned business declined to comment, according to a woman who answers the phones.
Camillus Cutlery is one of several knife manufacturers to succumb to foreign competition, said David Barrack, executive director of the American Edged Products Manufacturers Association. Several manufacturers have shut down or curtailed operations in recent years, including Imperial Schrade Corp., once the largest knife manufacturer in the world, which closed in 2004.
"It's really staggering the number of companies that have closed as a result of offshore competition and the rising cost of doing business here in the United States," Barrack said.
The cutlery trade group petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission during the 1980s for relief from low-priced imports but failed to persuade the commission to impose duties, Barrack said.
The original growth of Camillus Cutlery can be traced to such duties imposed during the 19th century.
Adolph Kastor, the German immigrant who built Camillus Cutlery into a name brand, started a New York City business in 1876 to import German-made knives. He sought a manufacturing operation only after tariffs imposed in 1897 made the blades too expensive to import, according to a company history.
In 1902, Kastor bought a 20-person cutlery in Camillus that had been founded by Charles Sherwood in 1894. Camillus Cutlery has always operated in the heart of the village, its buildings sprawled alongside Nine Mile Creek.
Mayor Ed Fletcher said he was shocked by news of the closing.
"It's our image," he said. "We're known as Camillus Cutlery."
The village erected four road signs in 1999 that say, "Welcome to the village of Camillus, home of the world famous Camillus Cutlery."
Struggling with foreign competition, the business endured a bitter six-month-long strike in 2006. When the strike ended in November, the company hired back only 15 of the 78 workers who had gone out.
In the aftermath of the strike, employees assumed the end was near, said Bill Slate, 35, of Warners, who has worked at the plant for 15 years.
"We kind of knew," he said.
The federal government has made union employees of the company eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, because their jobs were lost to foreign competition. That gives them access to extended unemployment insurance, training and other benefits, Westcott said.
Sixteen of the roughly 35 employees are union members, Westcott said.
Westcott, whose only job has been at the cutlery, said there were more than 400 employees when she started as a 20-year-old in 1977. She spent her next-to-last day packing Boy Scout knives into boxes.
"Oh, kids," she said, "You just don't realize."
This is from today's Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard:
Camillus Cutlery's Era Comes to Close
Embattled manufacturer to shut its doors for final time Wednesday, February 28, 2007
By Tim Knauss
Staff writer
From 1942 to 1945, Camillus Cutlery Co. made more than 15 million knives for U.S. soldiers. The company's 700 employees filled three shifts.
After the war, the cutlery thrived making Boy Scout knives, hunting knives and a variety of other blades.
But Camillus Cutlery has been decimated in recent years, the victim of tough competition from foreign manufacturers.
At the end of business today, the company will close, leaving its remaining three dozen employees without jobs, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, the union representing company workers.
"This place used to be an excellent place to work," said Westcott, who took her first job at the cutlery nearly 30 years ago. "It's very upsetting."
Westcott said she does not believe workers will receive a severance package. The managers and owners of the family-owned business declined to comment, according to a woman who answers the phones.
Camillus Cutlery is one of several knife manufacturers to succumb to foreign competition, said David Barrack, executive director of the American Edged Products Manufacturers Association. Several manufacturers have shut down or curtailed operations in recent years, including Imperial Schrade Corp., once the largest knife manufacturer in the world, which closed in 2004.
"It's really staggering the number of companies that have closed as a result of offshore competition and the rising cost of doing business here in the United States," Barrack said.
The cutlery trade group petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission during the 1980s for relief from low-priced imports but failed to persuade the commission to impose duties, Barrack said.
The original growth of Camillus Cutlery can be traced to such duties imposed during the 19th century.
Adolph Kastor, the German immigrant who built Camillus Cutlery into a name brand, started a New York City business in 1876 to import German-made knives. He sought a manufacturing operation only after tariffs imposed in 1897 made the blades too expensive to import, according to a company history.
In 1902, Kastor bought a 20-person cutlery in Camillus that had been founded by Charles Sherwood in 1894. Camillus Cutlery has always operated in the heart of the village, its buildings sprawled alongside Nine Mile Creek.
Mayor Ed Fletcher said he was shocked by news of the closing.
"It's our image," he said. "We're known as Camillus Cutlery."
The village erected four road signs in 1999 that say, "Welcome to the village of Camillus, home of the world famous Camillus Cutlery."
Struggling with foreign competition, the business endured a bitter six-month-long strike in 2006. When the strike ended in November, the company hired back only 15 of the 78 workers who had gone out.
In the aftermath of the strike, employees assumed the end was near, said Bill Slate, 35, of Warners, who has worked at the plant for 15 years.
"We kind of knew," he said.
The federal government has made union employees of the company eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, because their jobs were lost to foreign competition. That gives them access to extended unemployment insurance, training and other benefits, Westcott said.
Sixteen of the roughly 35 employees are union members, Westcott said.
Westcott, whose only job has been at the cutlery, said there were more than 400 employees when she started as a 20-year-old in 1977. She spent her next-to-last day packing Boy Scout knives into boxes.
"Oh, kids," she said, "You just don't realize."
