The company Oberg Medical will close its operations in Costa Rica so it can hire more people in the United States. Oberg will lay off this year a total of 153 people who work in its manufacturing plants in the Metropolitan Free Zone in Barreal de Heredia.
This Wednesday, the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (Cinde) confirmed the departure of Oberg from Costa Rica. “The company in the life sciences sector, Oberg Medical Costa Rica, announced that, due to the impacts that the business is suffering at the international level from the Pandemic, especially elective medicine, it has decided to consolidate all functions in the United States of the plant that is maintained in Costa Rica”, says the statement shared by Cinde.
“The situation facing the industry due to the impact of COVID-19 has forced Oberg to make a difficult decision. Due to this, the local operation will suffer a gradual reduction of its payroll, affecting 153 people,” according to the company. Costa Rica was Oberg’s only manufacturing facility outside the United States. They are headquartered and main operations in the state of Pennsylvania.
During June, Vice President Pence visited an Oberg plant in Sarver, Pennsylvania as a special guest during the first stop of the Great American Comeback Tour. It encompasses a series of visits across the United States coordinated by America First Policies, a conservative organization.
“Thank you for being a great American company,” Pence said during his speech. “A company that supports our armed forces, supplying our health professionals and a company that, in one of the most challenging moments, always kept operating as an essential service,” he added.
Pence thanked Mark Paolillo, the CEO of Oberg Industries since 2019, during the visit. Paolillo started at Oberg as an apprentice and has been with the company for more than 28 years.
“They told me there will now be a lot more apprentices working here in Pennsylvania because yesterday I was informed that Mark decided to join our national effort, the Pledge to America’s Workers. They committed to creating another 225 new jobs and apprenticeships in the next five years. So thank you, Mark, thank you Oberg Industries,” said the Vice president.
Dismissal of 153 people
Pence further noted that Oberg manufactures parts that are critical for knee replacements, hip replacements, neck, and back surgeries. Also, in Pennsylvania, it manufactures parts used by the armed forces for the Abrams A1 tank, nuclear submarines, and the F-15 fighter plane.
Oberg has already contacted to coordinate the relocation process of the people who will be laid off in Costa Rica, according to Cinde confirmed. The company also said that it will respect all the parameters of Costa Rican legislation to carry out this process.
