Argus Lays Off 100 Employes

Argus Lays Off 100 Employes
Move Said
No Sign
Of Shutdown
Top-Level Prsonnel
Reported Unaffected
By Job Curtailment

Argus Cameras yester-
day laid off indefinitely
100 employes.

An Argus spokesman, Rich-
ard J. Caley, industrial relat-|
tions manager, said the layoffs
did not indicate that Argus will
shut down or leave Ann Arbor.

"It simply means we are
doing everything in our power
take Argus profitable. It
has not been profitable for the
past several years," Caley
said.

He said no one at the top-
| level of the plant is involved in ii
the layoffs. ^

Notices Given

Some of the layoffs were ef-
fective yesterday and some will
be effective next Friday, Caley ,
said. He said all the laid off
persons have been notified.

Eighty of those laid off are
salaried employes and 20 are
hourly workers.

The hourly-rated employes
were primarily in the tool room ^
and maintenance departments. \
The salaried personnel were
largely in engineering, manu- ;

facturing and administrative
positions. Caley said the cuts
in this area were made so as
not to endanger work on Argus'
y new products.

Caley called the layoffs "an
economic readjustment" and
"an effort to get our costs and
overhead down to the point
i where we can compete success-
\ fully with Japanese camera
1 firms."

Comments On Future

Asked about the general out-
look for Argus remaining in
business in Ann Arbor, Caley
said:

' "Argus' future in Ann Arbor
1 depends upon its ability to
compete successfully with in-
creased foreign competition in
the photographic field."

Caley s^id Argus' vice-presi-
dent and general manager Lee
i7 ^'venport and the firm's
, i...,,niJler, Lee Lockard, are
still Sylvania personnel and
will return to that company
when the purchase of Arg'
Mansfield Industries, Inc , .-
Chicago takes over. the Argus
division April 29.