Liberty Medical Supply has notified the city that it’s likely going to lay off more than 260 Port St. Lucie workers.
“Liberty Medical, LLC may be selling substantially all of its assets,” the company said in a letter to Mayor Gregory Oravec. “The transaction is expected to close in July 2017.
“If the transaction closes, on August 27, 2017, there will be layoffs at Liberty Medical, LLC facility at 8881 S. U.S. Highway 1 and 8883 S. U.S. Highway 1 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. These layoffs are expected to be permanent.”
Peter Tesch, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County, said the local economy is strong enough to absorb a large layoff. Still, he said that’s likely small comfort to those getting proverbial pink slips.
“As the old saying goes, ‘a recession is when your neighbor lost his job, and a depression is when you lost your job,‘” he said. “It’s so very unfortunate, tragic. I’m sure it’s touching more than 263 families in the community.”
Nevertheless, said Tesch, “I don’t like to see a business closure and don’t like layoffs, but we’ll make lemonade out of lemons.”
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported in June that St. Lucie County had a not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 4.6 percent in May, about the lowest it’s been in a decade. The county had a workforce of about 137,000 in May with about 6,200 seeking employment. Tesch said the industry sectors for skilled call-center workers are adding jobs in Port St. Lucie rapidly. “You look at this industry within the region, healthcare, back office, they’re all standing and need quality workers,” Tesch said. “They literally need hundreds of workers over the next 12, 18 months. That industry sector is very strong.”
Liberty Medical is an inbound customer-service business that delivers diabetes testing equipment, insulin pumps, pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies. It’s been floundering for several years as it switched through owners. In 2012, it was among the largest companies in Port St. Lucie, with about 2,400 workers. The next year, the company hit insurmountable headwinds, filed for bankruptcy, and started periodic pay reductions and downsizing.
The city bought Liberty’s former office at 10400 S. U.S. 1 with plans to turn it into the utilities office. The city paid $4.4 million for the 122,400-square-foot office. But then EMD Holdings offered the city more than $6 million for it, with a plan to lease it to a former St. Lucie West customer-service business, Teleperformance USA. That company was expanding.
Marcelo Dossantos, director of business services at CareerSource Research Coast, echoed Tesch’s optimism that Liberty workers are entering an employment market eager to hire them. “If you are going to get laid off, God forbid, this is the time to have it happen,” he said. “It’s a healthy environment for work.”
