Nearly 280 Workers Laid Off After Massive Fire Forces Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refinery To Shut Down
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Hundreds of employees who worked at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refinery, which caught fire earlier this summer, have been laid off. The South Philadelphia refinery had to shut down after a massive fire June 21.
A few days later, the company announced it would close and be put up for sale. On Tuesday, some 280 union workers were let go.
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CBS3 spoke with one of the workers who had worked at the refinery for 13 years.
"Obviously, we're not being offered medical, so you're concerned with your family, for health care, for any issues, and then it's just about finding another job. We're in a specialized field, where there are not a lot of jobs locally that we can just go to," Terrence Ford said.
Eyewitness News has been told that PES will keep a caretaker staff at the refinery.