Manufacturer Finds Solution to Layoffs using EDD program

March 26, 2009

Orange County – Cambro Manufacturing Company, the makers of cafeteria bars and plastic banquet coffee urns, has found a way to limit their lay-offs using the state Employment Development Department (EDD) work sharing program.

Argyle Campbell, second generation owner of the Huntington Beach business, said the work sharing program is creating a miracle with their operations.

Founded in 1951, Cambro has survived through each economic downturn that the country has gone through each decade, making it an almost recession proof company.

Last year, order placements decreased forcing Mr. Campbell to cut back on operational costs, monitoring orders and inventory usage, as well as postponing non-critical spending. He even had to let go of his temporary workers.

Optimistic about the economy making a rebound sooner or later and reluctant to lose several of his long-time skilled workers, Argyle Campbell sought out options that would help him limit his lay-offs. That’s when he turned to using EDD’s program.

The department‘s work sharing program is a work sytem wherein an employer is required to target ten percent of the total workforce or any individual employee for a cut in wages and reduced hours.

Affected employees, in return, will be qualified to collect unemployment insurance benefits for the lost hours.

According to the EDD, the program has been in existence since the 1970’s but has not gotten any due attention because the succeeding years after its creation saw a boom in the State’s economy.

Interest in the work share program has increased, accelerating each month after the third quarter economic plunge of 2008, according to Talbott Smith, EDD program overseer.

Around 2,800 companies signed up for the program last year as compared to 1,400 in 2007. The department also processed applications of companies from industries that don’t normally apply for the work share program like dentists, small services based companies, etc.

Cambro is one of those employers who applied for work sharing to prevent companies from losing more money as reassembling skilled workers after the recession will consume too much time and money.