Staff report

Sixty-three employees at a Howland manufacturing plant that produces copper wiring will lose their jobs this summer.

In a letter posted on its website, IUE-CWA Local 717 said 46 production workers and 17 skilled tradesmen at Aptiv’s Plant 10 will be out of work as of July 14. Their work will be outsourced, according to local President Joseph Ferradino.

“The company informed us that this decision has nothing to do with the Aptiv / EDS separation earlier this year,” Ferradino wrote Monday in a letter to union members. “This has been planned since they began outsourcing the copper business in August 2022.”

Ferradino said the union learned of the closure after meeting this week with EDS officials.

In January, the Swiss-based company’s board of directors announced plans to separate its Electrical Distribution Systems business (EDS) from Aptiv into two companies.

“We have a long track record of transforming Aptiv through operational changes and organic and inorganic portfolio shifts to best position our businesses in a dynamic environment,” said Kevin Clark, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a news release announcing the move. “Today’s separation announcement represents the next step in our transformation journey.”

Ferradino said meetings with EDS management will be scheduled over the next few weeks “to discuss ways to soften the blow to the membership of Local 717.”