Small Manufacturing Plant in Bethel Set to Close

BETHEL, CT — The town will be losing a manufacturing plant in August.

Burndy LLC has notified the Connecticut Labor Board that it's operation in the Clarke Business Park will commence laying off workers in August, with the last pink slip handed out when the plant shuts down for good at the end of the year.

Fifty-four employees will be affected, as parent company Hubbell, based in Shelton, consolidates the work into another of their facilities in Alabama. Workers were warned of the possibility of the shutdown in February, according to a letter Burndy's human resources manager filed with the Labor Board's Rapid Response Unit on June 5.

Burndy manufactures connectors and other hardware for electric and networking equipment. It was acquired by electrical and electronic component manufacturer Hubbell nearly ten years ago.

Hubbell employs 19,400 workers company-wide, and last year posted revenue just below $4.5 billion, up nearly a $1 billion from the year before, and increased profits last year 50 percent, to $360 million.