Rohm & Haas to Cut Work Force by 7%

Rohm & Haas Co. will fire as many as 1,260 employees--including 100 in Orange County--to cut costs as the Philadelphia-based specialty chemicals maker tries to counter falling demand for its plastics and chemical products.

The company, which makes paint additives and chemicals for electronics and owns Morton Salt, said the job cuts will apply across its businesses and reduce its 18,000-employee work force by 7%.

Rohm & Haas said the reductions will save at least $200 million by the end of next year. Some of the job reductions will be tied to two plant closings in California and one in Mississippi, said spokeswoman Laura Hadden. It also plans to close a warehouse in Freeport, N.Y.

At its Tustin plant, which makes chemicals for the printed wiring board industry, 75 positions will be eliminated over the next eight months, and 20 other employees will be transferred to other sites, Hadden said.

In Orange, 25 employees, who make an electronics chemical product the company is discontinuing, will be laid off. Both Orange County plants will be closed.

Raj Gupta, the company’s chairman, said the company has been hurt by a sharp decline in the electronics industry, where its chemical products are used in the wiring and circuit boards of electronics, including personal computers, video games and cellular phones.

Shares of Rohm & Haas rose 58 cents to close at $34.83 on the New York Stock Exchange.