KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Eastman Chemical Company employees whose jobs are getting eliminated learned the news this week.
Eastman spokesperson Tracy Addington confirmed the news to News Channel 11 Friday. The company is eliminating about 3% of its positions worldwide as part of an effort to reduce overall costs by $200 million.
“(T)he company is eliminating positions through involuntary separations, retirement, and attrition,” Addington wrote, meaning that not all the reductions will necessarily involve involuntary terminations.
Eastman’s website says that it employs about 14,000 people, meaning a 3% cut would impact roughly 420 employees.
Addington wrote that about half those positions are in Kingsport. The separations were effective Wednesday.
The cuts do not impact any “hourly operations role team members,” Addington wrote.
