Vermont; 40 organizations send letter to Biden to save

Morgantown plant
by David Beard, The Dominion Post,

 July 21, 2021

MORGANTOWN – On the same day that Our Revolution sent its letter to
President Biden asking him to intervene and keep the Morgantown Viatris plant
open, The Dominion Post learned that Viatris is closing a small Mylan facility in
Vermont.

Mylan Technologies, part of Viatris, runs a printing operation in Swanton, Vt.,

about 6 miles south of the Canadian border. It’s significantly smaller than the
Morgantown Mylan plant set to close July 31 – 21 employees will be displaced in
Vermont, compared to nearly 1,500 here.

The Dominion Post received word about the Vermont plant closure Wednesday
and asked Viatris about it.

Viatris said in an email exchange, “Earlier this year, we notified employees of the
planned closure of our printing operations in Swanton, Vt., as part of the
company’s ongoing global restructuring initiative. While a few colleagues were
transferred to our St. Albans facility, a total of 21 employees will exit the company
in two waves and we expect to close the facility in mid-August.”

While the plant is in Vermont, two employees of the Virginia state workforce
office filed a petition for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance on behalf of the
employees – all non-union – in late June. The petition shows that one group was
expected to be separated July 6 and the second group will exit on Aug. 13, when
the plant is set to close. The petition is pending with the U.S. Department of
Labor.

The plant is part of Mylan Technologies’ pharmaceutical printing and labeling

division and reportedly prints labels for Mylan medicine bottles.

According to information gleaned by The Dominion Post, Mylan Technologies is

based in Saint Albans, Vt., and has 250 employees.

Viatris said, “We still maintain a significant workforce in St. Albans, which plays a
critical role for the company in manufacturing complex products.”
As previously reported, Viatris planned a global restructuring after Mylan merged
with Pfizer’s Upjohn subsidiary to become the new company. Part of that
restructuring involved divesting closing up to 15 plants worldwide: The
Morgantown plant was among the first five announced in December, along with
one each in Ireland and Puerto Rico and two in India.

Viatris said at the time that it expected that up to 20% of its global workforce of
45,000 people might be impacted upon completion of the restructuring initiative;
that’s about 9,000 people.

Swanton is a town of nearly 6,500 people in Franklin County, Vt. The Dominion
Post spoke with Swanton Chamber of Commerce President Adam Paxman about
the impact the closure will have.

“We’re a small community, and 21 jobs is a lot for us,” he said. He didn’t know
the average income of the jobs at the the facility but assumed they’re mid- to
high-tech jobs. “It is discouraging.”

They first learned about the closure four to five months ago, he said. Most
employees live in the county, a few might commute from New York, about 15-20
minutes west of town.

Asked what’s next, he said when the building closes they’ll put out feelers to get
a new business in there. There’s a lot of interest from Canada but with the border
closed by COVID, “things are quite slow in that market.”

He closed with, “I wish them the best of luck. I hope everybody finds jobs and
they can stay as local as possible, because small communities absolutely need
these businesses and these jobs in their communities to survive.”

Letter to Biden
The Dominion Post previously reported that the progressive organization Our
Revolution and United Steelworkers Local 8-957 planned to team with other
organizations to write to Biden and urge him to invoke the Defense Production
Act to keep the Morgantown plant operating as a matter of national security. The
40 organizations sent the letter on Wednesday.

They quote Biden describing his Build Back Better plan: “This is the moment to
reimagine and rebuild an American economy for our families and the next
generation.”

They ask him to make good on that “to stop the outsourcing of American jobs
and life-saving American-made generic drugs. … If Viatris succeeds in its plan,
 the move will leave our country with virtually no domestic production of generic
pharmaceuticals.”

They cite a number of reasons to justify intervention:

 Taxpayer dollars (Medicare and Medicaid) will subsidize Viatris plan to increase
profits through cheaper offshore labor.
 Key pharmaceutical ingredients come from China and most generics are made in
India. “The President of Viatris, Rajiv Malik, has been cited in the past for altering the
safety and production data needed to keep pharmaceutical production and consumption
safe.” So the plant closure will weaken and already vulnerable supply chain.
 “Viatris’ race to the bottom will only harm America’s middle class and national
security — and use our tax dollars to do so.”
 The combination of Mylan and Upjohn will further their monpolistic, competitive
edge, they allege.
 The need for an industrial strategy. “In the absence of a national industrial
strategy for U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing, we have every reason to expect
privately held corporations like Viatris will continue outsourcing American jobs and
dismantling our manufacturing capacity.”
They close with their demand for Biden to invoke the DPA and “immediately
convene a task force with labor organizations, public health representatives,
economic development representatives, local community representatives, and
national security representatives to determine the most strategic use of the plant
in terms of the manufacture, packaging, and shipping of critical, life-saving
medications, or pharmaceutical inputs.”

Once a new strategy is in place, they write, the plant can be retrofitted as needed
and current workers can be rehired. “Time is running out. We strongly urge you
to use every lever at your disposal to save this plant. If there is a will, there is a
way. Please do something.”

An attached analysis done by Bard Business School economist Michael Shuman

projects that the 1,431 plant jobs lost will lead to a total 4,642 jobs lost by the end
of the year – 6% of the county’s total jobs. This will lead to $403 million in lost
wages and more than $1 billion in lost economic value, along with $62.8 million
lost in state and local taxes.

Tweet @dbeardtdp EMAIL dbeard@dominionpost.com