Another winter, another round of pink slips in the Merrimack Valley. Workers across the Greater Lowell area are bracing for job cuts at labs and factories, as fresh state notices and company filings put well over a hundred local positions on the chopping block. The latest moves pile onto more than a year of closures and reductions that have kept town officials and job counselors in near-constant crisis mode.
New WARN notices and company filings hit local labs
State records show Labcorp Early Development Laboratories has filed a notice that about 94 positions will be affected at its Bedford site, with separations scheduled to begin in March, according to the Massachusetts WARN tracker. For affected workers, that 60-day clock is already ticking.
In Burlington, Curia Global plans to shut down its drug manufacturing plant and cut roughly 81 jobs, with the company’s filing listing March closure dates, as reported by FiercePharma. The decision adds another hit to the region’s life sciences and advanced manufacturing corridor.
Not just labs: factories slash jobs too
The turbulence is not confined to the biotech and pharma world. Packaging and printing facilities in the region have been trimming staff as well, underscoring how broad the pressure has become.
Graphic Packaging International disclosed a reduction of about 71 positions at its Lowell facility last year, according to Packaging Dive. For a city with deep manufacturing roots, that sort of cut lands hard.
Nearby, Smyth Cos. filed paperwork to shutter a Wilmington plant and lay off roughly 69 employees, Providence Business News reported. It is a familiar pattern for workers on the North Shore: one more plant, one more set of jobs gone.
How local officials are scrambling to respond
Municipal leaders say they are leaning on state partners to blunt the impact where they can. Bedford Town Manager Matthew Hanson told the Boston Herald that the company’s corporate headquarters is located outside Massachusetts, which limits direct local leverage over the decision but not the town’s determination to connect affected employees with help.
According to state guidance, MassHire Rapid Response and the Massachusetts WARN office can provide on-site sessions for affected workers, referrals for retraining programs and one-on-one job-search support. It is not a replacement for a steady paycheck, but it is the main toolkit cities and towns have to work with once the layoff notices go out.
What workers should know about WARN rules
Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, law, most employers with 100 or more employees must generally give 60 days of written notice before a qualifying plant closing or mass layoff, with only narrow exceptions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That notice is meant to give people at least a short runway to plan, apply for new roles or enroll in training.
Workers who believe they did not receive proper WARN notice can contact MassHire Rapid Response or seek legal advice to learn about their options and possible remedies. The details matter, so employees are urged to get clarity on their specific circumstances.
For now, town halls, workforce boards and career centers across the Merrimack Valley say they will keep pushing to steer laid-off workers toward open positions and training programs as new closures and cutbacks surface. Public WARN postings and continued local reporting will be key to tracking the next round of hits, and to seeing whether the region’s job market can absorb yet another wave of losses.
