Procter & Gamble Laying Off 215

Company’s shaving and grooming unit will shed 215 jobs in Boston as it moves production of older blades and razors to Poland, Mexico and elsewhere.

BOSTON (AP) -- The Procter & Gamble Co.'s shaving and grooming unit will shed about 215 jobs in Boston over the next five years as it moves production of older blades and razors to Poland, Mexico and elsewhere.

Spokeswoman Kelly Vanasse says a contractor who runs Gillette's Devens warehousing and packaging facility will transfer operations to sites in Andover and Mexico over the next two years.

Robin Montgomery, a spokesman for Sunoco, which operates the Devens facility, said up to 60 workers are expected to transfer to Andover in November. He said about 350 full-time workers, and temporary employees who average around 400, will lose jobs in the transfer of packaging operations to Mexico in 2010. He said the company is meeting with workers to try to minimize the impact, and is looking at offering severance packages as well as retention and performance bonuses for those who work until the 2010 transfer.

Vanasse says that most of the jobs lost in Boston will be through attrition, retirement or voluntary separation packages. The cuts represent about 9 percent of the company's Massachusetts employees.

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