Teva Laying Off Nearly 100 Frazer Employees

FRAZER, PA – Pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries recently announced an overhaul of the company, and its Frazer facility has been hit with layoffs in said overhaul.

According to a WARN notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the Frazer facility is experiencing 96 layoffs, effective Jan. 18 through Dec. 31.

The company, with its North American headquarters in North Wales, Montgomery County, announced plans to undergo a massive overhaul of the company in December, including a 25 percent workforce reduction and the loss of some 14,000 jobs.

Teva's West Chester, North Wales, and Horsham locations also saw layoffs in the restructuring.

In total, 208 employees have been laid off, according to the WARN notice.

Teva officials say that the restructuring plan will "simplify and unify" business operations and save the company $3 billion by the end of 2019. The 14,000 cuts will take place over the next two years, with most of them occurring in 2018, according to the announcement.

"Today we are launching a comprehensive restructuring plan, crucial to restoring our financial security and stabilizing our business," Kåre Schultz, Teva's President and CEO, said in a statement. "We are taking immediate and decisive actions to reduce our cost base across our global business and become a more efficient and profitable company."

News of cuts at Teva are nothing new.

In 2015, union members marched to protest recent layoffs in North Wales. And a previous round of about 7,000 job cuts at Teva worldwide were announced as recently as August 2017.

The restructuring will specifically take aim at manufacturing plants. The announcement said the company planned on closing a "significant number" of plants throughout the United States, Europe, Israel, and elsewhere.

For employees who did not lose their jobs, the company is suspending dividends on ordinary shares, and the company's annual 2017 bonus will not be paid out, company officials said.

With reporting from Justin Hezine

The Horsham, Pa., offices of Teva Pharmaceuticals North America are shown Monday, July 25, 2005. In a deal that will create the world's largest generic drug company, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said Monday it is acquiring rival Ivax Corp. for about $7.4 billion (6.13 billion euros) in cash and stock. Ivax shares climbed 10 percent in morning trading. (AP Photo/George Widman)