By A.J. Harris

LEROY – A former employee of the now-closed DuPont Pioneer Hi-Bred Plant has no animosity towards the company, despite receiving no warning.

The ex-employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that everyone showed up for work yesterday morning and were informed that the temporary workers had been told not to come in.

Then they found out that all the loads at the docks had been cancelled.

When a meeting was called for 7:00 AM, they knew to expect the worst.

“There was no warning,” the employee said. “At the meeting, management came in and told us the business was consolidating on the soybean side and they had decided to cut Leroy as a production facility.”

“There was obviously shock,” they added, “but the business has gone through an enormous amount of change in the past few years and things like this happen.”

The worker, who had worked at the plant for a number of years, expresses no animosity towards the company and feels as if they were dealt with fairly.

“They could have just shut the place down, but they provided an acceptable level of benefits to us, in my opinion.”

When the plant, which was one of the largest employers in Leroy, closed, it left dozens of people without jobs.

A.J. Harris can be reached at [email protected]