New Haven Independent

The Gun That Won the West Ditches New Haven

by Paul Bass | January 17, 2006 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last 186 or so remaining workers at New Haven’s Winchester rifle plant are getting the pink slip. The Belgian owner of U.S. Repeating Arms Company (as the firm’s now called) informed the union that it plans to close the plant for good March 31. City officials scrambled Tuesday to come up with a plan to find the workers new jobs. They were also meeting with company officials before appearing at a 5 p.m. press conference. In its heyday the Winchester plant employed some 15,000 workers at its complex straddling the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods, most of which has now become Science Park. The city offered repeated rounds of corporate welfare to keep the company in town — ultimately to no avail. Now, said mayoral spokesman Derek Slap, “We’re looking at three quarters of a million [dollars] that the city could possibly recoup” under terms of the company’s tax abatements. Click here to read a City Hall press release, which details all the government gimmes showered on this company.