GILROY
– Three of Gilroy’s top 10 employers are vanquished from the
city’s list of largest, and most high-profile, companies.
GILROY – Three of Gilroy’s top 10 employers are vanquished from the city’s list of largest, and most high-profile, companies.
After making the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation’s list of “major employers” just five months ago, Indian Motorcycle Company, California Door Corporation and Odyssey Enterprises now make up a list of companies with 150 employees or more who no longer call Gilroy home.
Indian went out of business, California Door moved to Morgan Hill and Odyssey is trying to sell its old cannery site to an affordable housing provider.
“It’s clear we need to find a way to keep the 7,000 residents – who commute north for work each day – in Gilroy,” said Councilman Bob Dillon, citing numbers from the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation. “Several candidates during the campaign mentioned – and I agree with them – that we’ve installed a solid retail tax base in Gilroy. Now we need to shift that focus and install a solid job base here, too.”
On the Chamber of Commerce Web site, Bonfante Gardens is now listed as the number-one Gilroy employer with 686 workers, but a significant portion of them are seasonal staff.
And if the industries of government and health services are figured in, half of the major employers list would fall out of the top 10. Gilroy Unified School District tops that alternative version of the list with 919 employees. Gavilan College, the City of Gilroy, Saint Louise hospital and Kaiser Permanente all rank in the top 10, too.
Government jobs provide good wages and benefit plans, however, they aren’t immune to the economy, or politics, either. For instance, if the state decides to take the revenue generated from Vehicle License Fees away from cities, Gilroy stands to lose more than $2.5 million, triggering 43 layoffs.
“Those are businesses that probably don’t produce climates that grow other businesses,” Dillon said. “What I’d want to see is manufacturing and high-tech jobs, good blue collar jobs that pay workers around $20 an hour.”
Finding those jobs for the 7,000 commuters will have to be done in an economic climate that already has more than 2,100 Gilroyans unemployed.
In September, Gilroy’s unemployment rate of 12.2 percent was the highest in Santa Clara County, which averaged 7.5 percent. Gilroy’s percentage of jobless workers more than doubled neighboring Morgan Hill’s 5.9 percent unemployment rate.
The September rates, which will be updated some time Friday with fresh October statistics, excludethe 380 local jobs lost when Indian Motorcycle closed its doors Sept. 19. According to the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation, roughly 100 of Indian’s employees had Gilroy addresses.
“What all this tells us is that the economic climate is still volatile, and we’re not creating jobs,” Councilman Roland Velasco said.
Velasco on Wednesday attended a seminar hosted by South Valley National Bank. Speakers, he said, noted that the regional economy may be headed for a recovery like the one being seen nationally, but it could be a “jobless recovery.”
“It just doesn’t take as many workers to produce widgets anymore given today’s technology,” Velasco said.
Velasco said it’s a far cry from a “Matrix” scenario of the machines taking over, but in tight economic times employers will ask more of fewer employees and rely more on technology to get the job done.
During the recent City Council campaign, candidates across the spectrum preached the need to bring in more “livable wage” jobs to Gilroy. With the new City Council poised to take over Dec. 1, Councilmen-elect Paul Correa and Russ Valiquette are ready to bring some ideas to the table.
Both men support holding workshops or study sessions with Gilroy’s major employers to see if there’s anything the city can do to help them stay profitable here.
“Maybe we need to sit down and draw up a new game plan,” Valiquette said. “I have no idea right now what that game plan is, but we need to all get into think tank mode.”
Correa would like to see a proactive approach by the city toward businesses, noting that most city leaders were unaware of how badly Indian Motorcycle was faring.
“We have a lot of businesses now that are scared about a Super Wal-Mart opening, but I don’t think anyone is out there talking to them about their vulnerability,” Correa said. “We need to take the temperature of the community and businesses in some way.”
Dillon and Velasco support the idea of increasing communication between business, the city and other economic players like the chambers of commerce and the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation. But Velasco says any meeting between the private business sector and public officials should have a focused goal.
“I don’t think business wants City Hall meddling with bottom lines,” Velasco said. “But if we can increase communication with the private sector and have a better idea of what we can do to help them, then I’m all for it.”
As Councilmen responded to the latest unemployment and other economic data Thursday, California Door Corporation moved its Gilroy location north to Morgan Hill. It is not clear why the woodworking firm checked out of Gilroy.
According to Morgan Hill’s economic development director, Garrett Toy, the company was not recruited to relocate or given any economic incentive to move. Owner Ed Rossi did not return phone calls before deadline.
California Door employed 180 workers and was a feather in the caps of business leaders when it moved here from Morgan Hill several years ago for more space and less rent.
On Thursday, Bill Lindsteadt, the executive director of the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation, was in Chicago trying to convince more companies that Gilroy is the best place for them to do business.
Lindsteadt could not be reached for comment, but spent the week meeting with eight different site selection firms. These firms find desirable spots for companies looking to relocate their businesses.
Lindsteadt attends roughly four of these per year.
Employer* /Employees** /Type of business
GUSD/919/education
Bonfante Gardens/686/amusement park
Gilroy Foods/612/food processing
Christopher Ranch/536/food processing
Saint Louise Hospital/439/health services
Gavilan College/344/education
City of Gilroy/254/public services
Kaiser Permanente/185/health services
Goldsmith Seeds/173/agriculture
Inland Paperboard/173/packaging
* Does not include retail stores
**Includes seasonal, wage and salaried jobs
