NO 'FORCED LAYOFFS' AT LOCAL PLANT

Procter & Gamble Co., a giant consumer-products manufacturer headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, has no plans for a layoff at the Cape Girardeau facility at this time.

"We have asked some folks if they would be interested in a voluntary separation in the future," said Larry A. Stahlman, a public information spokesman at Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co., located north of Cape Girardeau. "That future is still to be determined. At this time we don't have any forced layoff' plans. "

Mike Jennewein, human-relations manager of the local plant, echoed Stahlman's remarks.

No Cape Girardeau plant worker will be dismissed as part of Procter & Gamble Co.'s plan to eliminate 5,600 jobs in the United States, said Jennewein.

The Cape Girardeau plant, which recently opened towel and tissue lines to go along with disposable-diaper lines, employs between 1,650 and 1,675 workers.

"Right now, we expect any changes in staffing to be done by retirements and attrition," said Jennewein.

Meanwhile, P&G is in the process of eliminating 5,600 jobs across the nation, its largest cut in its 163 years, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal.

And, in efforts to minimize the number of pink slips, P&G announced it is offering buyout packages to many of its employees, in effect, calling for volunteers.

24,000 job cuts

Overall, 24,000 job cuts have been announced over the past two years by P&G, once regarded by workers as a job-for-life employer. In March of this year, P&G chief executive A.G. Lafley said the company needed to cut 17,800 jobs, with the bulk of the jobs 11,800 to come overseas.

A third of the U.S. job cuts companywide will come from manufacturing.

Under the buyout package, U.S. employees who have worked at P&G at least a year are eligible for benefits that include severance pay, health care, outplacement assistance and retraining reimbursements, depending on how long the employee has been at P&G.

Under the P&G buyout package, employees had until May 15 to request the buyout package. Those requesting the package had 45 days from the time they receive the information to decide on whether to leave. The workers had another week to change their mind, according to Dick Antoine, P&G's global head of human resources.

About 2,600 people requested the package information. The company should know by mid-July how many people are leaving. At that time, the company will look for ways to make the rest of the cuts, including layoffs.