Friday, February 06, 2009

The Pfizer Wyeth diaspora


As Pfizer preps to lay off some 20,000 employees in connection with its $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth, several workers who accepted transfers from Pfizer's ex-Ann Arbor site can expect to be among those losing their jobs, several sources said.

David Canter, former site director of Pfizer's 2-million-square-foot Ann Arbor campus, said it's likely that some ex-Ann Arbor Pfizer workers who accepted transfers would be laid off.

"It's inevitable that some of them will just be hit by that," he said.

Stephen Rapundalo, who left Pfizer in 2003 and serves as executive director of MichBio, the state's life sciences association, said he knew of several ex-Ann Arbor Pfizer employees who stayed with the company and have been laid off.

"Some of them have already gotten their notices. Quite a few actually," he said.

Pfizer announced in January 2007 that it would close its Michigan research operations as part of a global restructuring plan. More than 2,100 Ann Arbor employees, including thousands of world-class scientists, were displaced.

Pfizer spokesman Rick Chambers said 1,180 of Ann Arbor's employees were offered transfers - and 850 accepted. They transferred to sites in Groton, Conn.; St. Louis; LaJolla, Calif.; Sandwich, U.K.; Boston; New York; and Kalamazoo.

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