State Senator Joe Pittman and State Representative Joe Petrarca say that there are still some questions concerning the closure and sale of an Avonmore plant.
The plant in question is the Akers National Roll plant, which was announced to be in the process of being sold to an affiliate of WHEMCO, Incorporated back on May 10th. Both Pittman and Petrarca along with officials from Westmoreland County and Avonmore Borough wrote to WHEMCO’s president and CEO Charles R. Novelli to ask about the status of the plant, but the company did not reply. A legal agreement was filed on September 25th with Westmoreland County’s Recorder of Deeds transferring the plant from Aikers National Roll to Georgia Financial XIIth LLC for $703,676. No statement has been made on the plant’s future and information about the owners is extremely limited.
KDKA reported that the closure meant that about 100 employees were affected, many of them members of Steelworkers unions, and both Pittman and Petrarca said in their joint statement that the businesses closure affects not just Avonmore, but Westmoreland, Indiana and Armstrong Counties. They are keeping an open invitation to talk with the plant’s owners.
