Sometimes getting the news involves tracking down unverified rumors, and either debunking the rumors or verifying what parts of the rumors contain facts.
In this case, recent rumors from multiple sources about the alleged closing of the large NCR facility in Peachtree City’s industrial park cannot be confirmed one way or the other.
“We regularly assess the prevailing market climate and our customers’ needs, aligning our business to ensure NCR remains a strong, growing company. Our policy is to not comment on these details,” said NCR Director of Corporate Communications Kevin Ruane on April 24.
Attempts to contact the local NCR facility were unsuccessful. Both local telephone numbers were not answered after many rings.
The Citizen was hoping to learn if the rumors were correct, partially correct, or just flat untrue; if any number of employees would be leaving; when the process would begin; the reason for the downsizing or relocation; and whether the jobs vacated would be replaced locally.
“As of April 27, 2015, the FCDA, Fayette County and Peachtree City have not received any official WARN notification from the company or the state of Georgia regarding an anticipated closure of the existing Fayette County distribution facility,” according to Fayette County Development Authority President Alan Durham on Monday.
Durham said the federal “Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act” (WARN) was created in the 1980s to protect workers, their families and communities by requiring employers with 100 or more employees to provide at least 60 days advance written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff that will affect 50 or more employees at a single site of employment.
A WARN Notice must be provided to affected workers, to the state dislocated worker unit and to the appropriate unit of local government such as city or county governments and FCDA.
Durham said this federally-required advance warning allows communities some time to assist affected workers with finding new jobs, provide job training assistance and to plan for the reuse of a closed facility.
He said FCDA has not received the federal-required notification that would signal any action that would involve a closure or mass layoff.
Its stock price battered down 11 percent in the past year, the company that invented the cash register is reported by the Wall Street Journal to be considering “strategic alternatives” like the spinoff or sale of assets. A full sale of the company is considered unlikely.
It was announced earlier this year that NCR, currently headquartered in Duluth, Ga., will build a new world headquarters in midtown Atlanta near the Georgia Tech campus, resulting in the relocation of more than 3,000 employees from its north Atlanta suburban location.
NCR will also maintain a significant presence at a second campus in the northern suburbs, a company press release said.
NCR is the second largest private employer in Fayette County with approximately 1,200 employees, according to an undated statement on the FCDA website.
NCR has approximately 29,000 employees and operates in 180 countries.
The technology giant is said to be pivoting from a hardware-based company to sale of software and services.
