Smokeless tobacco firm to cut 25 Nashville jobs
Smokeless tobacco maker UST Inc. will eliminate 25 jobs in Nashville, including the layoffs of 17 people, as the snuff-maker cuts its salaried work force by 10 percent nationally because of a dip in sales.
The Greenwich, Conn.-based company, whose snuff brands include Skoal and Copenhagen, announced plans Monday to cut 218 positions nationwide as part of a bid to save $100 million over the next three years.
In Nashville, eight of the 25 jobs to be cut were already vacant, company spokesman Michael Bazinet said.
The company has 215 salaried employees in Nashville who are involved in either running manufacturing operations at the plant off Eighth Avenue South or involved in research and development.
Bazinet couldn't say how many of the jobs being cut are in each division.
Employees close to retirement age will get early retirement inducements while others targeted for layoffs will get severance packages and job placement help, Bazinet said.
The cuts do not affect the 250 hourly production workers at the Nashville plant, Bazinet said.
Most of the layoffs will come this month, according to a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company expects restructuring charges of between $22 million and $25.5 million related to the job cuts nationwide.
UST has other manufacturing operations in Franklin Park, Ill., and Hopkinsville, Ky. It also is reviewing other cost-saving options, including moving its headquarters from Connecticut, Bazinet told Bloomberg News.
Monday's cuts come as the company tries to deal with stronger competition from cigarette-makers Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which are beefing up their efforts in the smokeless tobacco market as more states and cities ban smoking in public places.
UST's sales were down 1.5 percent and profits were off about 1.4 percent in the second quarter.
The company has vowed to be aggressive cutting costs.
