Number of LaFrance workers won't return

Temporary 30-day layoff becomes permanent for some employees

An undetermined number of workers at American LaFrance will not return from a 30-day layoff next week because the firetruck manufacturer does not have the money to order parts and resume full production, a spokesman said Friday.

About 100 workers at the Summerville company were temporarily dismissed in mid-December. The company said at the time that it needed to update its inventory system after its relocation last year to a new $62 million manufacturing plant near Jedburg Road and U.S. Interstate 26.

The affected workers were supposed to return from the one-month furlough Monday.

But while the inventory upgrades are finished, officials began notifying workers earlier this week that they won't need to come back until mid-March.

"In the short term, we don't have components and parts to put together the trucks to actually build them," American LaFrance spokesman Michael Gordon said Friday.

Gordon said he didn't know how many employees would be affected by the move. The company had a total of 500 workers before last month's temporary layoff. Employees who are affected are getting medical benefits and also are eligible for unemployment assistance.

Gordon said the company is working to secure financing for the parts and components it needs to resume full production. He added that American LaFrance is in talks with its lender and that things "look positive."

"There were some hang-ups in being able to order the parts," he said. "It wasn't a vendor issue. It was an American LaFrance issue."

American LaFrance is owned by New York-based Patriarch Partners. A spokesman for Lynn Tilton, Patriarch's founder and chief executive officer, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The past 18 months or so have marked a turbulent period for American LaFrance.

In addition to glitches that cropped during its forced move from the DaimlerChrysler plant in North Charleston to its new manufacturing facility, the company had at least two rounds of layoffs in 2007.

Also, unhappy customers, such as the city of Bellingham, Wash., complained about the quality of the vehicles the company made.

The manufacturer then lost its CEO, John Stevenson, who resigned in October, the day before the company held the grand opening of its Summerville location. Meanwhile, Charleston County hit American LaFrance with a $317,313 bill in October to settle a dispute over tax-related fees that came due as a result of the company's move to Berkeley County.

Reach John P. McDermott at 937-5572 or jmcdermott@postandcourier.com. Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.