Pittsfield area workers lose jobs – for now

PITTSFIELD – About 100 workers got the surprising news through the mail Thursday that they had lost their jobs at GE Infrastructure Security, formerly Edwards Systems Technology.

But a spokeswoman with Manpower Inc., which is ending its affiliation with GEIS, said all the employees would be allowed to reapply for their positions through the new employment service provider and would most likely be rehired.

Lisa Tagliapietra of Manpower’s public relations department in Wisconsin said that Manpower’s affiliation with the Pittsfield company will cease on Nov. 7. Each of the 100 full-time employees hired through Manpower were notified of the provider’s departure and were told in individual letters how to reapply through the new employment provider.

Manpower Inc. has 4,300 offices in 72 countries serving 400,000 customers annually.

According to the letter sent to workers, employment services are being taken over by Adecco, which has more than 6,000 offices in 71 countries with a total work force of 650,000 people. Adecco’s main offices are in Zurich, France and Melville, N.Y.

Michelle May, a spokeswoman for GEIS, said Friday afternoon that although GEIS “consistently evaluates its need for workers based on orders and workload” the move under way was merely an exchange of employment service providers. When pressed for further information, May would not confirm or deny whether a downsizing would occur during the changeover.