SK Battery announced layoffs for its Jackson County, Georgia plant this week despite previously expanding rapidly in Georgia. The layoffs came just months after a local business owner blamed the company for a fire that destroyed his recycling company and launched a lawsuit.
The battery company announced layoffs last Tuesday, with a spokesman describing them as “job reductions” when speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The spokesman stressed the company is “not disclosing the number” of cut jobs, and the plant still employs 3,000 Georgians.
Earlier this year, on July 14, the owner of a Banks County recycling company claimed SK Battery incorrectly included hazardous materials when sending its industrial waste to the facility, with Fox 5 Atlanta reporting the businessman discovered a fire that “spread from a section of material delivered by SK Battery, flames leaping high into the air, and creating a plume of thick black smoke.”
The fire at the recycling company Metro Site required 3 million gallons of water to be extinguished, the outlet reported, and the business was considered a total loss. Banks County Fire Chief Steve Nichols said “[t]here were batteries in there and that would explain the amount of heat we had involved.”
Metro Site filed a lawsuit against SK Battery on July 30, alleging workers discovered two lithium-ion batteries near the start of the fire, according to Fox 5, which added that Metro Site claims it previously caught the lithium-ion battery company “illegally dumping charged pouch cell” batteries six other times prior to the fire. SK Battery claimed “proactive, preventative measures” would prevent further issues.
The Jackson County plant supplies batteries for electric vehicles made by Ford and Volkswagen, according to WUGA 91.7 FM. Just two weeks ago, The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported SK Battery had become one of the largest employers in Georgia.
SK Battery did not indicate whether the ongoing United Auto Workers strike, which has spread to facilities in 28 states since it began in Michigan, contributed to the company’s layoffs.
The Biden administration intervened to assist SK Battery’s parent company, SK Innovation, in 2021 after the company threatened to abandon its Jackson County plant unless President Joe Biden helped settle litigation brought by LG Energy Solution.
LG Energy Solution claimed SK Innovation stole 22 trade secrets to build its $2.6 billion plant in Georgia, and the United States International Trade Commission ruled that SK Innovation attempted to destroy evidence related to the theft in February 2021.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “SK Battery Plant” by SK Battery America, Inc.
