MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Efforts are still underway to find another company to take over operations of the former Mylan facility, now Viatris in Morgantown. On MetroNews Talkline, United Steelworkers Union Representative J.D. Wilson said they are planning for the closure and job loss, but the effort to bring the plant back won’t stop, even after the closure.
The plant in Morgantown, the Mylan oral solid dose manufacturing facility has been in operation since 1965 and is scheduled to close July 31. If the closure happens as planned 1,400 jobs will be lost, 850 of those jobs belong to members of the United Steelworkers Union.
When the Viatris/Mylan merger was finalized in December of 2020 officials announced the closure as part of a plan to reduce costs by $1 billion by 2024. Closing the Morgantown plant is part the Viatris plan to cut the global workforce by 20 percent and to close or sell 15 manufacturing facilities.
” Now it comes down to, what’s our next option,” Wilson said,” As I’ve said from the beginning we are not going to stop fighting, so you can close but now we’re going to fight to bring someone else in there.”
Since the announcement was made in December of 2020, community leaders, lawmakers and the governor have committed to help, but reports indicate Viatris officials have not been receptive. Both the House of Delegates and the State Senate have passed resolutions asking the governor to get involved. In June of this year Governor Justice told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “We’ve talked with Viatris, and we continue to struggle with them,” Mr. Justice said. “They’re difficult to work with. The least they could do … is be cooperative.”
Workers from the plant and the union have held multiple rallies in Washington D.C. and Charleston to lawmakers to take action.
“Our state legislators have helped us tremendously, now we need Shelley Moore-Capito to actually step up and do something, or even talk to us,” Wilson said,” Joe Manchin has spoken to us, but he hasn’t said a lot.”
According to Wilson, some of the workers at the plant have been there for 20 to 30 years and have proven track record of performance. Plus, the oral solid dose facility in Morgantown is one of the few remaining in the country.
“If we can get somebody in there, that’s a workforce that has an understanding of pharmaceuticals,” Wilson said,” They do their job to perfection. Mylan has not had recalls because of what these people have done.”
The 1,400 workers at Mylan not only have jobs in the community, but they coach youth sports, volunteer in the community and have become a part of the economic base. If those jobs are lost the impact to the local economy would be severe, according to experts.
“It would be very good for the community to get another company in there,” Wilson said,” We get these people back to work and money starts coming back into our economy.”
Details of the severance package union members agreed to last week were not released, but union officials said it was a package membership had “worked for.”
“For what these people have done for, not only the community but this company and then you see the bonuses that CEO’s and CFO’s get it’s not even close, I can promise you that.”
Filings show former CEO Heather Bresch received a $37.6 million pay out when the Mylan/Viatris merger closed.
When Robert Coury stepped down as executive chairman in 2016 to assume the role of non-executive chairman, his exit package was valued at $97 million. Courey, now the executive chairman of Viatris was given a $10 million lump sum cash award when assumed that position that has an annual salary of $1.8 million, plus incentive-based bonuses.