Governor pushes drug giant on benefits of keeping jobs here

Governor pushes drug giant on benefits of keeping jobs here

By JOHN P. McALPIN

Associated Press Writer

May 5, 2003, 5:55 PM EDT

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey is the best place for Pfizer Inc. to keep its jobs, Gov. James E. McGreevey told the drug company's chairman during a closed door meeting Monday.

How many Garden State workers will lose their jobs or be transferred as part of the company's restructuring after its merger with New Jersey-based Pharmacia remains unclear. Also not being publicly discussed is the fate of the former AT&T headquarters, a sprawling corporate campus in Bernards Township, which Pharmacia purchased last year shortly before the merger plan was announced.

McGreevey called his session with Pfizer chief executive officer Hank McKinnell productive, but was stingy on details during a Statehouse appearance later in the day.

"We have expressed our concerns to Mr. McKinnell and we will be working closely with Pfizer in the months ahead. Mr. McKinnell understands our state's commitment to thoughtful development of intellectual property," McGreevey said.

In a statement issued after the meeting, McKinnell said he welcomed McGreevey's assurances.

"Pfizer remains firmly committed to New Jersey, and for that reason, we are planning to stay and make a major investment in the state," McKinnell said.

The concern comes as Pfizer rewrites business plans after finalizing its merger with Pharmacia, which had its headquarters in Peapack-Gladstone.

Overall Pharmacia had more than 2,500 employees at several locations in the state. It also had plans to consolidate operations by revitalizing the former AT&T headquarters, one of the largest available corporate sites in the state.

McGreevey, whose administration helped broker the real estate deal for Pharmacia, said he will work to maintain the site. "The AT&T site represents quality real estate," the governor said. "It ought to be preserved."

Pfizer, the world's biggest pharmaceutical company, said it is maintaining or expanding most of its New Jersey facilities.

However in three areas it will close or otherwise unload offices of Peapack-based Pharmacia, which it acquired on April 16. In addition to the AT&T campus, those offices include an 80-person regional sales office in West Windsor and offices employing 750 people in Bedminster.

In notices bearing that same date, Pfizer officials notified state and local labor departments that it would be laying off employees.

The company, however, is expanding operations at other New Jersey locations, including the Morris Plains home to its consumer health business.

Pfizer plans a $400 million, five-year expansion to nearly double the 1.3 million square feet of office and laboratory space, boosting capacity from about 3,700 workers now to as many as 5,000 by 2008.