The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Pfizer closing leaves big void
By Terry Jacoby, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: February 1, 2007
When Sharon Pignanelli went to work each day she wondered if it would be her last.
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Working for Pfizer, at least for Pignanelli, meant uncertainty and uneasiness about the future.
"You always knew at some point you were going to be going," said Pignanelli, a Dexter Township resident who retired from Pfizer in 2004. "I always felt that while working for them. I just wondered if this was the day they would pick my number."
For 2,100 employees their number was picked last week when the pharmaceutical company announced plans to close the research facility off Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor.
The world's largest drugmaker is the biggest taxpayer in the city of Ann Arbor, but that will change when the doors are locked for good by the end of 2008.
Numerous requests to current employees to talk about the closing were ignored because of what one employee said was a "request by the company not to talk to the press."
Pfizer has said that it plans to transfer up to 70 percent of the Ann Arbor employees to other company locations, but that doesn't account for everyone and certainly means many of the 2,100 residents of Michigan will be moving out of state.
"I certainly wasn't surprised," said Pignanelli. "I was one of the fortunate ones because I was able to retire. My heart goes out to those still there. And especially to those who are around 50 years old and will have a tough time finding other employment. These people have skills and experience very specific to the drug industry. It won't be easy for them."
Pignanelli said many of the employees at Pfizer earned high-end salaries.
"They said the average salary is $86,000 but it's much higher when you count just the professionals," she said. "It's going to be very difficult for them to find the salary they were making there and still stay in Michigan. Some skills are transferable to other jobs, but some will find it very difficult."
State Rep. Pam Byrnes (D-52nd District) says the Pfizer closing affects more than just Ann Arbor and will be felt all over Washtenaw County. "(The closing) affects over 700 people in my district alone so everyone is going to be affected by this," she said.
Matt La Fontaine, general manager at La Fontaine Chevrolet and president of the Dexter Chamber of Commerce, agrees.
"There has been a large void created by the announcement by Pfizer and many of my neighbors are affected," he said. "Our board is meeting this week to discuss ways in which we can help, and I am also coordinating a meeting with our marketing director and Jessie Bernstein the President of the Ann Arbor Chamber to find ways we can use are strong networking capabilities to assist."
La Fontaine remains positive about doing business in Dexter and in Washtenaw County.
"I have always said one of the great things about Dexter and the Ann Arbor area is that it is just about as recession proof as an area could be," he said. "Great things are still happening all around us, not the least of which is Google coming, not only for the jobs they will create on their own but all of the companies that will spawn around them.
"This region is also going to be impacted by the Toyota Technical Center and their new development. Our community is very diverse and highly educated."
Washtenaw County Commissioner Mark Ouimet (R-District 1) said the Pfizer closing will have a devastating impact on Washtenaw County's tax base.
"The Pfizer closure and layoffs will be a $1.5 million tax loss to the county alone," he said. "The city of Ann Arbor stands to lose about $4 million, and the schools haven't figured out how big a hit they're going to take yet."
Ouimet said such a loss will have a "trickle-down effect."
"These were extremely high paying jobs; the median income was about $95,000 a year," he said. "It will affect the housing market – there are probably 20 to 25 Pfizer families in Chelsea."
The Ann Arbor site, which had been a Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis facility before the company's merger with Pfizer, began operating in 1960, with 256,000 square feet of lab and office space.
Pignanelli wasn't there at the beginning but she was there for the merger.
"Warner-Lambert treated us like family and Pfizer was more like a giant company that didn't care about their employees the way Warner-Lambert did," she said. "It was a hostile takeover and it happened fast."
Pignanelli said she has no regrets, but would have preferred spending her final years working in a more employee-friendly atmosphere.
"I have my pension and I have my benefits so it worked out well for me," she said. "But it's tough to work in that environment when you are afraid you are going to lose your job."
The New York-based company said it would retain manufacturing and animal-health research operations in the Kalamazoo area, preserving about 4,000 jobs.
Also affected are about 250 workers in Kalamazoo and 60 in Plymouth Township.
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