Siemens Energy said it will cut 530 jobs at the 890-employee facility, leaving 360 people still working there. Some affected employees will have the opportunity to transfer to jobs at other Siemens operations. But the Olean site will be left with a vastly reduced workforce and lose manufacturing operations that have been a staple of its history for over a century.

Siemens Energy said it will reduce the Olean site's workforce in phases, culminating in mid-2022. The Olean job cuts are part of a companywide plan to reduce employment at the gas and power division by 7,800 people over the next four years.

Siemens will move about 100 of the Olean plant's jobs to its facility in Painted Post, about 90 miles east in Steuben County. The Painted Post plant has about 350 employees. Another 50 jobs from the Olean site will be relocated to Houston.

Elected officials representing Cattaraugus County pledged to help workers who will face job losses.

"This is another blow to our region and a major setback to much of the progress made in the city of Olean,” said state Senator George Borrello, a Chautauqua County Republican. “Since its days as Dresser-Rand, this plant has been the backbone of manufacturing and industry in Cattaraugus County."

The roots of the Olean manufacturing operation go back to 1912. After different business combinations and name changes, the plant since the mid-1980s had operated as Dresser-Rand. Siemens acquired Dresser-Rand – including its plants in Olean, Painted Post and Wellsville – in 2015. Last year, Siemens Energy was spun off from Siemens, the German industrial giant.

Borrello said he had recently toured the Olean plant, and noted there were third- and fourth-generation employees of families working there.

“Generations of highly skilled workers have made Siemens Energy in Olean a world-leading manufacturer of turbines and compressors for the oil and gas industry,” Borrello said. “These are highly technical jobs performed by dedicated workers. The value of that knowledge and expertise can’t be replaced once it is lost.”

It was a similar refrain in Wellsville in 2018, when the Allegany County community learned its longtime Dresser-Rand facility would be closed. The shutdown was completed last spring.

Leaders of the United Steelworkers union blasted Siemens' decision about the Olean plant, which puts over 350 Steelworkers members' jobs in jeopardy.

“Siemens unilaterally determined our jobs and our community are expendable without consulting workers or notifying the union,” said Del Vitale, director of the union's District 4, which is based in Cheektowaga. “We must urge management to reverse its catastrophic course.”

Vitale said the union would demand to negotiate over the company’s decision and if necessary, the effects of a shutdown.

John Shinn, the Steelworkers' secretary treasurer, criticized Siemens for "cutting employees' voices out of the decision-making process."

“We're outraged that the (union) was neither notified in advance nor offered an opportunity to meet with Siemens to discuss alternatives in Olean,” Shinn said. “We will stay united throughout this process, and our solidarity will be our best hope to preserve fairness and justice for workers and their families.”

Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, called Siemens' job cuts "another example of how the Biden administration’s actions against the natural gas sector and other all-the-above energy solutions have serious, real-world consequences for the American people."

Borrello acknowledged Siemens was facing market pressures but also laid some of the blame on the state.

“Unfortunately New York’s high taxes, unnecessary bureaucracy and overregulation always factor into a company’s decision to move manufacturing facilities,” he said.

Siemens said its decision at Olean was driven by its need to adapt to industry changes, with worldwide spending on oil and gas dropping since about 2013. "That has cut our market in half, and we do not see this market recovering," a spokeswoman said.

For the affected workers, Siemens said it is exploring options such as early retirements and voluntary reductions for eligible employees. The company will also try to move displaced workers into new jobs within its organization, as well as offer severance packages and outplacement services. 

Siemens said it will continue to operate the Olean site as a "center of competence" for its turbocompressor technology, with a focus on engineering, project management and research and development. About 75 of the remaining employees will work in Siemens' steam turbine business.