Letter: Geyser will not be promised job windfall

According to Crystal Geyser's application, they expect to have 20 to 25 full-time, year-round well-paid employees. This sounds like a windfall to Orland, which has a very high unemployment rate.

Upon further research, though, in the same document, it states that Crystal in moving to Orland from Calistoga. Not expanding from Calistoga, but moving from Calistoga. The same document states that they are building a "state of the art" plant. To me, this means "less labor required."

Further, the document states that 40 percent of their 130 employees have been with Crystal Geyser from 10 to 20 years, and the average length of service at 7 1/2 years.

When it was announced in Calistoga that the plant would be moving, the employees there were told that they might have the option to relocate. Jim Strandberg, their consultant, told me that Crystal Geyser will, of course, be bringing its plant managers, quality control, shift supervisors, etc. In the present economic climate, it doesn't seem likely that a person who has five or more years invested in a company and has accumulated seniority, and dental care, paid holidays and a 401K, is going to quit the job and remain in Calistoga where laid off co-workers are also hitting the streets looking for work, along with 74 full-time workers who were laid off from "Calistoga Beverage" in November 2008 (see Santa Rosa The Press Democrat, Sat. Aug. 8, 2009).

Janice Almond, director of human resources for Crystal Geyser, tells me that the Calistoga plant may remain operational for a couple of months after the Orland plant would open. That would be a wise decision from a personnel standpoint. Keep your old reliable people employed in Calistoga while assessing any new hires in Orland. Then, cull the less productive and less efficient as the Calistoga employees are infiltrated into the new plant.

It is expected that when a company opens a new facility they over-hire to open the facility then cull over the first few weeks as the employees are analyzed.

Crystal Geyser also indicated that their administrative offices would remain at the Calistoga venue. That means their higher paid employees, the ones that might be able to buy a home, are going to stay in Calistoga. Those forklift operators, at next to minimum wage are not going to be buying new homes or be doing any discretionary spending.

Our unemployed are having a hard time. Let's not exacerbate their problems by giving them false hopes. A handful of marginal jobs are not worth sacrificing our town and risking its future.

Dean and Dalene Shippelhoute

Orland