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Bay Ship recalls 70 workers
STURGEON BAY - Laid off for months, dozens of workers are once again punching the clock at Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay.
The company is ramping up its workforce as winter maintenance work gets underway and Bill Walls is filled with anticipation.
“I was happy, very happy,” said Walls.
Walls is a welder at the shipyard. He was laid off last June.
“It's hard when you ain't making the money, holidays coming up, depression and everything,” Walls said.
But on Monday, Walls is headed back to work.
“I figured I'd be getting called back sooner or later, but I didn't think it'd be this early,” Walls commented.
This marks the busiest time of year for Great Lakes shipyards.
Winter work kicked off early at Bay Ship with the arrival of the Great Lakes freighter EDWIN H. GOTT.
The company says it has already called back 70 workers.
"I'm just extremely pleased and happy to put some folks back to work, especially this time of year. I'm very excited about having a full workforce and serving our customers,” said Bay Shipbuilding Co. Vice President and GM Gene Caldwell.
Caldwell said with the call backs, employment right now stands at about 270 workers. He expects to ramp up to 750 employees by mid-January and keep all of those people on for at least two months.
The company is anticipating upwards of 15 vessels coming into the yard this winter. And while layoffs typically begin again in March when the work is done, Caldwell says he hopes to keep people on.
"We're hoping to have a new construction contract, we're working very hard to try to keep a core of our employees and build upon that so we have a workforce through the summer,” Caldwell said.
“This is great,” said Bill Chaudoir with Door County’s Economic Development Corporation. “Hopefully we have hit bottom, and we're now on the way up.”
Chaudoir said during these tough economic times, the county’s shipbuilding industry has probably been the most severely hit sector in Door County.
“They're good jobs, good benefits, so the spin-off on these jobs is significant in our community, so this will help all sectors of our local economy.”
Walls is just glad with the holidays around the corner, he’s back on the job.
“That’s a positive, anything is a positive right now,” Walls said.
As far as the new contract, Caldwell says it is a commercial deal, and he expects to have more information available in the next 90 days.
STURGEON BAY - Laid off for months, dozens of workers are once again punching the clock at Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay.
The company is ramping up its workforce as winter maintenance work gets underway and Bill Walls is filled with anticipation.
“I was happy, very happy,” said Walls.
Walls is a welder at the shipyard. He was laid off last June.
“It's hard when you ain't making the money, holidays coming up, depression and everything,” Walls said.
But on Monday, Walls is headed back to work.
“I figured I'd be getting called back sooner or later, but I didn't think it'd be this early,” Walls commented.
This marks the busiest time of year for Great Lakes shipyards.
Winter work kicked off early at Bay Ship with the arrival of the Great Lakes freighter EDWIN H. GOTT.
The company says it has already called back 70 workers.
"I'm just extremely pleased and happy to put some folks back to work, especially this time of year. I'm very excited about having a full workforce and serving our customers,” said Bay Shipbuilding Co. Vice President and GM Gene Caldwell.
Caldwell said with the call backs, employment right now stands at about 270 workers. He expects to ramp up to 750 employees by mid-January and keep all of those people on for at least two months.
The company is anticipating upwards of 15 vessels coming into the yard this winter. And while layoffs typically begin again in March when the work is done, Caldwell says he hopes to keep people on.
"We're hoping to have a new construction contract, we're working very hard to try to keep a core of our employees and build upon that so we have a workforce through the summer,” Caldwell said.
“This is great,” said Bill Chaudoir with Door County’s Economic Development Corporation. “Hopefully we have hit bottom, and we're now on the way up.”
Chaudoir said during these tough economic times, the county’s shipbuilding industry has probably been the most severely hit sector in Door County.
“They're good jobs, good benefits, so the spin-off on these jobs is significant in our community, so this will help all sectors of our local economy.”
Walls is just glad with the holidays around the corner, he’s back on the job.
“That’s a positive, anything is a positive right now,” Walls said.
As far as the new contract, Caldwell says it is a commercial deal, and he expects to have more information available in the next 90 days.