Sales are slow at Basin Fertilizer, when product is usually moving out the door.
Workers at the Malin Potato Co-op are working partial days and partial weeks. If water isn’t delivered, they may not work at all later this year, said Dave Cacka, general manager.
“Our best case is we operate on a limited basis,” Cacka said.
The potato co-op employs about 45 people from Merrill, Malin and Tulelake. Some have been with the company more than 10 years, Cacka said. Operating half time would mean some employees would look for work elsewhere. The rest would suffer from reduced wages.
“It’s not just the grower or the owner of the business, but you have labor, the people who own the trucks, trucking agencies and firms,” he said. “It’s a ripple effect that goes much further than the man on the farm raising the crop.”
Floyd A. Boyd
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At Floyd A. Boyd, service manager Jim Woosley and his crew said business has been slow.
“I’ve never seen so many people so terrified,” Woosley said. “Customers say they’re not going to do anything until they get some word on the water.”
The service technicians estimated they are seeing about a quarter of their usual business right now.
Manager Don Boyd said no water deliveries would be devastating to his business and employees.
“If there’s no water put in the Project, that’s a big, big part of our business. It’s going to have a major effect, maybe 65 to 70 percent of our business,” he said.
There would still be some farming in the area, and Floyd A. Boyd gets business from Macdoel and also sells lawnmowers. But no repair work is coming in as people wait to hear whether there will be water this year.
Floyd A. Boyd laid off some workers last year because of the economy, and through the Oregon Employment Department’s WorkShare program, Boyd is hanging on to his service technicians by having them work three days and claim unemployment benefits two days each week.
“They’re trained, skilled. We have tens of thousands of dollars invested in these mechanics’ training,” Boyd said. “You don’t want to lose them.”
Boyd has a little more than 20 employees left, but he said the company is still paying the part-time workers full-time benefits. His business can only afford to do that for so long.
“We can’t make any money where we’re at,” he said. “Without water, the entire community is going to be affected.”
Basin Fertilizer
At Basin Fertilizer, the workers spend a lot of time looking out the window, said co-owner Bob Gasser.
“We’re waiting for the decision makers to finally do something,” he said. “We need a decision today so we can make plans. It’s beyond frustrating.”
In 2001, Basin Fertilizer lost more than 75 percent of its business, Gasser said.
“Like all businesses, we have people working for us. I have people who have worked at this location for over 20 years,” Gasser said. “When we can’t work, they can’t get paid. That bothers me as much as anything.”
Basin Fertilizer has 30 employees working reduced hours and no overtime, Gasser said.
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