Pfizer cutting 680 Pennsylvania jobs

News about post-merger layoffs continues to trickle out. The latest: Pfizer is cutting 680 jobs in Collegeville and Great Valley, Pennsylvania--from a total of 4,500 workers at those sites, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. That's a 15 percent cut--the same percentage that Pfizer announced it would cut from its workforce globally. The Pennsylvania layoffs will take effect in two months, on March 12.

Some employees were notified last week in one-on-one meetings with their managers, spokeswoman Gwen Fisher tells the Inquirer. Official letters will also be sent to all affected workers, notifying them of severance benefits, including cash payments, medical benefits, and job placement.

How will the cuts be apportioned? Well, 450 will come at Collegeville and 230 in Great Valley, meaning that Great Valley bears the brunt: Twenty three percent of the some 1,000 workers there now. That makes sense, given the fact that the Wyeth office campus in Great Valley is set for closure by midyear. The remaining 670 workers may not be laid off; however, some could be transferred to other Pfizer sites, including Collegeville, Fisher tells the paper. But either way, layoffs in the local area likely won't end with the March wave, she says. So stay tuned.

- read the Inquirer piece

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