PETERSBURG, Va. — The UniTao Pharmaceuticals plant in Petersburg will be idled until “business conditions improve,” company officials announced Friday.
The news means a small number of employees will be retained to maintain the plant. The rest of the plant’s employees will laid off.
“The impacted employees will receive a severance package for their brief service to the company,” the company said in a release.
CBS 6 News is working to find out how workers will be parting ways with the Chinese company.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced in October of 2014 that more than 370 jobs would be coming to Petersburg after UniTao purchased the Boehringer Ingelheim plant. The company had planned to invest $22.5 million to establish operations.
The governor’s office gave UniTao a $1 million grant to revive the old plant, which faced hundreds of layoffs.
“UniTao has informed the Governor’s office and the City of Petersburg that it will not be accepting the economic development grants offered by the state and the locality since the company cannot meet the obligations of those agreements at this time,” a release stated.
