Let's hope that this newly-announced vaccine lab expansion (decidedly good news for local Durham, North Carolina lab workers who were let go, when Wyeth was absorbed by Pfizer in late 2009) isn't the precursor to a "relocation" of some of the vaccine lab worker jobs (unionized?) from the West Point, PA facility, to the Durham, NC one (due to come online in 2012). I've seen no reported link, but the timing of the announcement seems oddly coincidental with the lapse of the USW collective bargaining ageement, at the West Point, PA facility.
In any event, here is the FiercePharma story (do go read it all), on the Durham, NC plans -- and a snippet:
. . . .Payroll at [Merck's] main vaccine operation is expected to swell from 275 today to some 400 by the end of the year. And this August, Merck will break ground on a 40,000-square-foot testing lab that is slated to open in 2012 with 50 to 60 workers. Work on the campus was launched back in 2004, and Merck is expecting to gain approvals to start selling the vaccines it makes there later this summer. . . .
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