On Monday, Nov. 4, new workers came in for onboarding at Genesis Alkali in Sweetwater County.
“And on Tuesday, they delivered them a letter saying that they're laid off,” said Marshal Cummings, a trona miner for the company and local Union president.
Cummings said at least 30 Genesis Alkali workers got those lay-off letters earlier this month.
“One guy I know specifically moved over 1,000 miles away, just closed on his house, and now he has no job,” Cummings said. The lay-offs officially begin Dec. 5th. Genesis Alkali wouldn't comment on the issue to Wyoming Public Radio, but referred to short statements made to Sweetwater County outlets. According to Sweetwater Now reporting, Genesis said the lay-offs are due to an “imbalance between the global supply of soda ash and demand as the main issue driving the reduction in force.”
The company is one of the largest producers of soda ash in the world, and the product is actually Wyoming’s largest export. Soda ash is made out of trona, which people like Cummings mine for, and is used in things like baking soda and glass.
Reports show that the average U.S. export price of soda ash from January to May this year was $230 per metric ton, which is about $70 less than the average last year. However, production was up in August compared to the same time in 2023 – that’s for both nationwide and Wyoming production. Meanwhile, consumption of U.S. soda ash was down compared to 2023.
David Caplan, the company’s director of communications, also said to Sweetwater Now that Genesis experienced a downturn during COVID-19.
“We’ve been through this before,” he said. “Every so often you get this supply-demand imbalance.”
But Cummings said he and his roughly 700 union members are mostly in disbelief.
“The fact that they have been onboarding so many people in the recent months and then decide to lay off, that is something I really can't believe,” Cummings said.
Over the last few years, Genesis has expanded its facilities to produce more of the product. In 2022, the company received a $665,000 grant from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services to train and support workers. According to Sweetwater Now reporting, 120 employees were hired in 2022 as a result of the anticipated expansion.
However, if the market improves, it’s possible the company will look to increase workers again. Cummings said in the union contract, Genesis is required to hire back the laid-off workers in order of seniority. He added that it’s possible some of the miners could find work at the another soda ash company Tata Chemicals in the area, which was recently hiring.
Even so, Cummings said, “some people are inevitably going to have to move, and that's dollars in the community that won't be spent.”
He added that he’s pushing for Genesis to at least offer worker buy-outs. Rather than the new hires being laid off, Cummings said potentially more senior employees nearing retirement would take buy-outs.
“It'd be less earth shattering, because these guys are ready for that,” he said. “The people that are still just really starting their careers are not so ready for that.”
He said that creates a work culture that is “career” oriented, not just a temporary job.
“You get these [younger] guys to buy in, and they'll be your employees for the next 30 years,” Cummings said. “They want to be a minor. That's why they moved here, right?”
So far he said the company isn’t budging with negotiations. But, he’s not giving up as a voice for the majority of the about 1,000 Genesis workers.
“It's almost like a helpless feeling that I don't know what else I could do to try and make the company have a better stance and a better position so that they don't have to let anyone go,” Cummings said.
The layoff news comes a few months after the Union negotiated a new contract with the company. Cummings led the efforts, and helped find compromise before workers went on strike. Included were new safety measures and wage increases, but left out was paid sick and personal leave.
