Included in IMPO's top five news stories: Pittsburgh-based Kennametal Inc. plans to cut 1,000 jobs because of weak demand and a court rules a woman who found her husband crushed to death can't sure for emotional distress.
Take a look at last week's top stories:
FedEx Worker Killed By 1,300-Pound Pallet At Freight Facility: Police say that a 57-year-old driver was working inside a truck at a FedEx Freight facility north of Buffalo, NY Wednesday morning when a pallet containing 1,300 pounds of packages tipped onto him. Watch the video clip in the link to learn more.
Pittsburgh's Kennametal Cutting 1,000 Jobs In Drilling Slowdown: Pittsburgh-based Kennametal Inc. says it's cutting 1,000 jobs over the next 15 months, citing weak demand for the coal-mining and gas-drilling cutting tools it makes. The company announced the cuts to its 12,000-strong workforce last week, but didn't say what facilities will be affected. Kennametal had more than 14,000 employees, including 5,000 in the United States, just two years ago. It has since offered some employees buyouts and sought to sell off some plants to cut costs.
Aging Workforce Puts Strain On Skilled Manufacturing Workers: In a small town just south of New Hampshire's capital, General Electric runs two plants filled with workers building jet engines for the world's leading airlines. With 800 workers, GE Aviation is the largest employer in town. But in the next five to 10 years, about a third of those workers are expected to retire. The company is scrambling to not only fill those jobs, but to find workers with the needed skills to take on jobs that are becoming ever more technologically advanced. It's a problem expected to play out across the region and the country over the next decade, driven in part by the growth of the economy and a rash of retirements among baby boomers.
Trump: Harrisburg Area Like 'War Zone' Due To Plant Closings: A day after campaigning in Pennsylvania, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said the Harrisburg area reminded him of a war zone because of the disappearance of major factories. The decline of factory jobs and the toll Trump says America's trade agreements have taken on the U.S. have been a prominent theme of his campaign. But the Harrisburg region actually represents something of a bright spot in what is still, in many respects, a rust belt state. The area has comparatively low unemployment and has for years experienced a modest but steady influx of new residents.
Woman Who Saw Husband Fatally Crushed Can't Sue For Distress: A woman who found her 77-year-old husband crushed to death under an all-terrain vehicle when she brought him lunch at his job cannot sue his employer for severe emotional injuries she suffered, the state Supreme Court ruled last week. Justices issued a unanimous decision in an appeal filed by Jenny Velecela. Her husband, Austin Irwin, was under the large ATV doing repairs at All Habitat Services in Branford on July 16, 2011, when it slipped off a lift and killed him. Velecela found him a short time later.
