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DuPont Pioneer job cuts climb to 175 since merger plan
Feb. 16, 2016
Pioneer
United StatesFollow
United StatesSo far, Iowa documents show that DuPont Pioneer has cut about 175 jobs since December, when parent DuPont said it would merge with Dow Chemical Co. The combined company plans to spin off three new companies, including an $18 billion agriculture company.
At the same time, DuPont said it planned to cut $700 million in costs, an action that would result in cutting 5,000 to 6,000 jobs from its global workforce. Officials at DuPont Pioneer have declined to say how many jobs would be lost at its sprawling Johnston campus or at its operations across the state.
But with 2,840 jobs in Iowa, Pioneer could face losing about 300 jobs, given DuPont's guidance that it would cut 10 percent of its global workforce.
Many of DuPont Pioneer's jobs are high-paying science, research and technology positions, said David Swenson, an Iowa State University economist.
"They're the kinds of workers we hope to attract and retain," Swenson said. "It's part of central Iowa's emerging biotechnology research cluster, and we'd hate to see that get smaller."
It's unclear how deep DuPont Pioneer's cuts will go.
Delaware-based DuPont said in January that it planned to cut $30 million more in costs. And, DuPont-Dow executives have said they expect to find $3 billion in synergies — or savings found by cutting overlapping jobs, operations and facilities — when they combine companies.
The merger is "going to come with some job losses along the way," said Tom Root, a finance professor at Drake University.
"They probably don't even know yet what that will be. They're probably internally now making those plans," he said. "There could be more bad news over the next two or three years."
Michelle Book learned in December that she would be laid off at DuPont Pioneer, after leading the company's community relations efforts for more than five years. She invested in arts, culture, education and other nonprofit groups in towns and cities where Pioneer had operations.
"It was a fabulous job," said Book, who has since become CEO of Food Bank of Iowa, a group that provides food to about 300 agencies that serve families throughout the state.
Jacque Matsen, a DuPont Pioneer spokeswoman, said the company is offering placement services to laid-off employees. She said most of the layoffs are expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter.
Source: Des Moines Register
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