Hawley says NY’s ‘anti-business climate’ driving out companies

Responds to shutdown by Medina manufacturer in 2014

Press release, State Assemblyman Steve Hawley

MEDINA – State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, lamented the loss of 174 jobs through the announced closure of the Bernz-O-Matic manufacturing plant in Medina.

Worthington Industries, owners of Bernz-O-Matic, indicated that local employees would have the opportunity to transfer to the company’s plant in Wisconsin, which served as little consolidation for proud local residents, Hawley noted. The assemblyman has reached out to Worthington Industries Chairman and CEO John McConnell to discuss the best ways to mitigate the economic damage in Medina.

“The news of Bernz-O-Matic’s closure is heartbreaking for the people employed at the plant, their families and all of us across Orleans County,” Hawley said. “Our immediate priority must be to help those affected find new work here in our community as quickly as humanly possible. I offer my deepest regrets to all of Bernz-O-Matic’s employees and pledge my full support in working through this difficult time.”

Coming on the heels of Chase Bank’s call center closure, Hawley lamented the job-killing policies forced on Western New York by out-of-touch lawmakers at the Capitol.

“How many more local jobs must be lost; how many more local families have to suffer before the Capitol lawmakers see the destruction that New York ’s anti-business climate causes?” Hawley said.

“Runaway taxes, overregulation and regressive policies have run countless job creators out of our community, yet legislative leaders continue to repeat the mistakes of old that have left our hardworking families out in the cold,” he said. “It’s time to open our eyes and change our courses before Western New York ’s families are forced to watch another company take their jobs across state lines.”