AMRI cuts more than 20 local jobs

Albany Molecular Research Incorporated (AMRI) has laid-off more than 20 people who worked at the company's facilities in Albany and Rensselaer, CBS 6 has learned. About 40 employees were laid-off nationwide.

The company blamed the staff reduction on lower than expected first half earnings and the failure to secure a drug company to bankroll its anti-obesity compound.

"We had done as much as we could throughout the first half of the year to reduce expenses without having to go so far as to lay anyone off," spokesman Ron O'Brien said.

AMRI cut travel expenses, did not fill several vacant positions, and launched a "lean" initiative which spurred several employees to realize the company was ordering too many rubber gloves. But none of it was enough to avoid the layoffs, O'Brien said.

AMRI is predicting a turnaround in 2010, though O'Brien said the affected workers will probably not be re-hired.

“WE LOVE NEW YORK, BUT…”

As CBS 6 first reported in July, rising energy costs may force AMRI to look outside its home state of New York if it expands operations.

North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington have been especially aggressive in trying to lure their business, O'Brien said, while AMRI executives are fully aware that China picks-up energy costs for new companies.

"We will do everything in our power to keep AMRI in New York State," State Sen. Neil Breslin (D - Albany) said in a statement. "They are a wonderful success story that would be darkened if they move out of our state.  Hopefully this process has started with the passing of the Power for Jobs bill in June."

O'Brien noted that the Power for Jobs discount is partially negated by a new state-mandated energy surcharge, and that future Power for Jobs extensions are at the mercy of the recently-fractured state Senate.