ROCKTON, Ill. — Employees say Chemtool is slashing severance packages following a fire that destroyed the company’s Rockton plant in June.
The employees say they will keep getting paid through September 14th, and were told by their parent company, Lubrizol, a severance package would kick in after that date — but they recently found out that may not be the case anymore.
“Up until this point I thought Lubrizol was actually going to do the right thing and help us transition,” Chemtool employee Bethany Prignano said. “Now, it seems like — I mean, they shut down communication. They took our severance pay. They’re clearly not supporting us.”
Lubrizol released a statement this weekend, saying affected employees “will eventually need to move on,” and they would provide severance pay when that time comes.
RELATED: Cause of Rockton chemical plant fire ruled accidental
The fire at the Rockton Chemtool plant started on June 14 and burned for several days, sending thick clouds of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles — and even on meteorological radar. An industrial firefighting team had to be called in from Louisiana to put the fire out, but the fire wasn’t completely put out until about 10 days after it started.
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