IN WAKE OF PFIZER'S ACQUISITION OF WYETH, SCHUMER LOBBIES PFIZER CEO TO HONOR AKRIMAX TAKEOVER OF ROUSES POINT PLANT
Akrimax Pharmaceuticals Has Purchased Rouses Point Plant and Plans for Orderly Transition by end of 2009
In Personal Call to Pfizer CEO, Schumer Urges Company to Ensure Rouses Point Plant Remains Open and Jobs Are Maintained As Transition Moves Ahead
On the heels of Pfizer Inc's announcement this week that it plans to buy Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which has a Clinton County plant in Rouses Point employing hundreds of local workers, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer personally lobbied the company to ensure the jobs at the plant are kept intact as the facility transitions to new ownership. A community mainstay in Rouses Point, the plant currently employs 650 local residents but Wyeth has sold the plant to Akrimax Pharmaceuticals.
In a personal phone call to Pfizer Inc. CEO Jeffrey Kindler, Schumer urged the company to keep the jobs at the Rouses Point plant and all other local facilities and to continue Wyeth's plans to transfer the facility to Akrimax.
"These are tough economic times and we must make sure that we hold onto these muchneeded jobs in Clinton County. The Wyeth plant in Rouses Point has a worldclass workforce and I wanted to make sure that at the highest level, Pfizer understood what a great job these employees do," Schumer said. "I will continue to do all that I can to lobby Pfizer to make sure this acquisition does not have a negative impact on the jobs in Rouses Point."
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has operations in Rouses Point, employing 650 local residents, and in Rockland County, employing over 3,000 local residents, in wellpaid day jobs in pharmaceutical manufacturing, packaging, quality assurance and critical support services. Wyeth is currently leasing the Rouses Point manufacturing plant from Akrimax Pharmaceuticals, which purchased the facility in January 2008. Plans call for Akrimax to take full control of the plant on Jan. 1, 2010. Pfizer's announcement prompted Senator Schumer to lobby on behalf of New York State jobs. Schumer pledged today to continue fighting to save the jobs and the plant.
