Slemon Park manufacturing plant 'struggling' to stay afloat

The general manager of what was once a major employer in Prince County says his plant is "struggling to survive" with a skeleton staff.

Five years ago, 150 people worked at the Testori Americas plant, manufacturing primarily interior parts of train cars. Now, just 15 employees remain — and three of them are being laid off at the end of the month.

"Right now, there's no space to fall down anymore," said Karl Yeom. "We are in the lowest situation, I think. So the only way we can go is to jump up."

Employees say problems at both the Testori plant and Wiebel Aerospace, what was once its sister plant in Summerside, started after they were bought by California-based TMC Avion in 2011.

A lot of good people left this company that would have made a go of it if there was more effort on the ownership side.- Reggie Caseley, employee

"We were open, we were working and getting paid every week, and after we were sold to this company from California, things started to go downhill," said one longtime Wiebel employee who didn't want to be named.

"They started laying off people every four or five months. It came down to there was only 12 or 13 of us left. And they just closed the place."

The company has faced a number of challenges, including a falling out with a previous owner and several lawsuits.

In 2013, the P.E.I. government — once a major creditor — wrote off $8 million of Testori's debt and sold off the rest to another company, P.E.I. Westside Funding. In 2014, Testori and Wiebel went under creditor protection, which ended last year.

• Aerospace company under creditor protection
• P.E.I. writes off $8.2M of Testori loan
• Aerospace companies mired in lawsuits
• $10M lawsuit filed over Testori group
• P.E.I. boosts Testori's line of credit

That bumpy financial road, according to Yeom, has made it tough to secure clients.

"We went through the [creditor protection] situation, and then we lost a lot of confidence from customers and vendors for the past couple years," he said.

Sister plant shut down

Wiebel shut its doors in November, putting a dozen people out of work. It used to employ more than 40.

The former Wiebel employee said the closure didn't come as a surprise as clients and contracts dried up over the past year.

"We should've gotten the layoff notice six to eight months before that. We were all looking at each other saying, 'What are we coming to work for? We got nothing to do,'" he said.

"We'd sit around and talk. You're supposed to have a cigarette break in the morning and one in the afternoon. Well, we were going five or six times in the morning and five or six in the afternoon … They [TMC Avion] just wouldn't spend money on our company to try and keep it going."

At least seven Wiebel employees who have been laid off have filed complaints with the labour division of the P.E.I. government, claiming they're owed vacation and severance pay.

Earlier this week, P.E.I.'s Supreme Court issued seven judgments ordering that the former employees be paid more than $25,000 in total.

New hope?

The Testori plant, too, was set to close altogether last month, said Yeom, with all 15 employees issued layoff notices just before Christmas after TMC Avion ordered the plant to shut down.

But Yeom said the company's biggest client, Bombardier, has handed the plant a lifeline, committing to a $200,000 contract for new parts just last week.

Now, he's hopeful the plant that's been operating for the past two decades can stay open for at least another year.

"I'm kind of relieved that there's still a chance we can stay open, and during that one-year extension, we can get new work to make this place stay open," he said.

Testori staff, however, say they're bracing for more layoffs and a plant closure.

"This has been going on for three years, wondering whether you're going to have a job or not," said Reggie Caseley.

"A lot of good people left this company that would have made a go of it if there was more effort on the ownership side."

Caseley said the new Bombardier contract is a good sign, but questions whether TMC Avion is willing to invest in the plant to ensure the work gets done.

"We don't have the staff we should have to do it," he said.

"We're missing seven or eight key people that used to do the job and left to come back to do it again. It comes down to money — money to have parts in and to build the product for Bombardier."

TMC Avion has not responded to requests for comment from CBC News.