Ross Island Sand & Gravel will close its concrete division and lay off at least two dozen employees, including truck drivers, mechanics and fuelers, according to a union representing drivers.
Other Ross Island operations will apparently continue.
Bill Elzie, business agent with Teamsters Local 162, said drivers in his union got the word at a morning staff meeting Tuesday.
“All the reps, all the drivers that I talked to, they were caught flat-footed. Thunderstruck,” Elzie said. “They thought they were on the rebound.”
Ross Island is owned by the RB Pamplin Corporation. The company declined to comment on the cutbacks and said any information about the layoffs will be released through The Portland Tribune, which is owned by Pamplin.
That newspaper did not report on the cuts at its sister company Tuesday.
With Oregon’s construction industry booming, Elzie said he believed the Ross Island jobs were safe. In fact, he said many driver openings were left unfilled because of a general driver shortage.
So, it’s not clear what is causing the hardship at Ross Island.
In addition to its concrete business, Ross Island also offers marine dredging and owns asphalt general contractor KF Jacobsen and Pacific NW Aggregates. Elzie said he has been told the company will continue operating on Ross Island and that its marine work will continue.
-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699