Obamanomics, a union, and an unaffordable healthcare cocktail prove too toxic for pipe foundry to bare

03/04/2014

Obama Cocktail: Go on, drink it up!

COUNCIL BLUFFS — Griffin Pipe Products, a longtime Council Bluffs business that currently employs an estimated 250 people, will close its doors in early May, a city official said Monday evening.

City Council member Lynne Branigan said she and other City Council members, along with Mayor Matt Walsh, received notification from U.S. Pipe Holdings of Hoover, Ala. — a subsidiary of U.S. Pipe and Foundry of Birmingham, Ala. — that Griffin Pipe “has decided to close the Council Bluffs facility on or about May 3, 2014.”

U.S. Pipe purchased Griffin Pipe early this year, and in mid-February approximately 60 employees at the Council Bluffs plant were let go.

At the time of the layoffs, a letter allegedly sent to the affected employees said they could be rehired at a later date if the demand for the company’s ductile iron pipe increased.

There are multiple factors in the decision to close the Council Bluffs location, Branigan said, but she did not elaborate.

“We received notification that the plant is closing,” Branigan said.

“I’m very disappointed and sad. It’s a sad day when a business closes, and the entire community will suffer this loss. It’s a private company, and they have to make the decision on what is in the best interest of the company, but that doesn’t mean the decision is in the best interest of the employees or the city of Council Bluffs that has supported Griffin Pipe.

“I know the mayor will be reaching out to see what the city can do.”

Walsh recently estimated that Griffin’s workforce was about 250.

When reached Monday, officials with the union at Griffin Pipe expressed hope that discussion would be held with U.S. Pipe on preventing the closure.

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