Industrial Ceramics Derry plant closes it's doors

Industrial Ceramics closes doors

DERRY -- Industrial Ceramics Inc. (ICI), the major employer in Derry, officially closed today, ending jobs for more than 200 employees.

A last-ditch meeting Monday with plant officials at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport failed to keep the plant open.

Production workers walked off the job April 3 after a previous three-year contract ended and the two sides were unable to reach a new agreement.

George Kozar, president of United Electricians Local 612, said he and other union officials met at the airport with Lewis H. Miller, ICI chief executive officer from New York. The last-minute meeting proved fruitless, Kozar said.

Miller was not available for comment today.

Kozar declined to give details of any offer or concessions made Monday "because there are several potential buyers for the plant."

The plant has produced industrial ceramics, porcelain insulators for transformers, switch gears, lightning arrestors and other electrical equipment.

Employees were notified in May that the plant would close July 25. Individual workers received termination notices over the weekend stating that the plant would close as scheduled.

The closing affects 46 office workers and 170 production workers. Westinghouse had a similar operation, Westinghouse Insulating Materials, in the plant for many years. ICI started production about nine years ago.