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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, April 15, 2010 · 2 Omron unlikely to follow jobs south of the border Continued from page 1 "They've been doing everything they can to try and keep the cost down and to try and stay (in Oakville), but everything has been against us on a business side," said Hoffman. Hoffman said the situation is particularly difficult because the 350 employees affected by the move are largely landed immigrants for whom Omron was their first employer in Canada. Some of these workers have expressed a desire to follow their jobs to Chicago, however, Hoffman said this process would be difficult. "It probably won't be a large amount of peo- ple who will go because immigration is very difficult. It has to be based on the skills transfer, that you can demonstrate to immigration that you have skills that are required that you can't get in the States. That's kind of a tough test," said Hoffman. "We're also trying to make sure everyone understands fully what the immigration process is like. If you go down there, your spouse can't work. You have to go through the green card application process." Hoffman said the jobs being lost to Oakville are production and professional support staff jobs, which have salaries ranging from $30,000$50,000 per year. Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said he is disappointed by the loss of so many jobs and voiced his hope for a more stable economic base in the future. "In a more perfect world we will replace them (Omron) with homegrown businesses that aren't branch plants being called back to the mothership in another country," he said. Hoffman said the workers will be getting severance packages and efforts will be made to help them get through the coming challenge. Omron's presence in Oakville has been on the decline since 2008 when the company had 625 employees in three Oakville facilities. In spring of 2008, Omron's 2270 Bristol Circle facility was closed when some of the automotive relay business housed at the facility went global and some was moved to the company's facility at 2291 Winston Park Dr. Eventually, the ongoing challenges in the automotive industry caused all of that automotive relay component to be moved to Chicago, as well as other countries. This prompted the closure of the second Oakville facility with the remaining employees moved into the final Oakville facility in 2009. "We do a very strong communications practice with the employees so for the most part the employees weren't surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised," said Hoffman. 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