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Up to a Third of Local Bausch + Lomb Jobs Could Go, Says Duffy

Canadian company Valeant Pharmaceuticals could cut as many as 500 Bausch + Lomb jobs in Rochester according to Lieutenant Governor Bob Duffy.

Duffy spoke to Valeant executives for about 20 minutes on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. He says nothing is certain until the company’s acquisition of Bausch + Lomb is closed.

However, he says they haven’t shifted on their plan to move the eye-care company’s headquarters to New Jersey, and cut up to 15 percent of the workforce.

“What we do know is some of the corporate, they call it corporate redundant jobs, here in Rochester will be eliminated. Their headquarters are in New Jersey so they don’t need two of each, so that’s a decision that they’re making,” Duffy says.

“They love the company, they understand the assets here in Rochester, but they have to make corporate decisions where they don’t need duplicates or duplications. We do know that there are about 1,500 employees here in Rochester totally, and so the jobs that will be affected are going to be those that are more in the corporate area.”

Duffy says Valeant has not given a concrete number on how many jobs will be affected in Rochester, but it could be up to a third.

At least for now, he says, Valeant intends to keep manufacturing operations running in the local area.

Duffy says the company may also consider bringing other operations to Rochester as they move forward and he has made them aware of Governor Cuomo’s Startup New York program which could provide incentives for job creation.

“What I said was, we have a whole incentive package for new jobs, new companies, coming up. And I just want to appeal to Valeant that as they grow in the future, as they look to expand or move other entities that they own, New York state has an incentive package that I don’t believe can be matched by any state in the country.”

Duffy says the company was not aware of the incentives program and they’re very interested. He says he’ll be meeting in person with Valeant executives at some point in the next two weeks.

Duffy was in Rochester Wednesday for a meeting of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council (FLREDC).

Danny Wegman, co-chair of the FLREDC and CEO of Wegmans food markets, says it’s always a tough blow to lose jobs from a big company.

But, he says the local economy is changing, and it’s not all bad news.

“Our region, the economy is becoming an economy of smaller companies and they’re very strong. So it’s a different way of doing things. People are outsourcing and they’re able to use smaller companies to fill needs that they can’t fill themselves and there are small models of growth all over the place.”

Wegman says with the looming cuts to local Bausch + Lomb positions, it’s more crucial than ever to focus on increasing investment in projects like the Eastman Business Park which could spur job and economic growth.