GSK to shutter New Jersey plant, laying off 165

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) is closing down a New Jersey manufacturing facility, putting 165 people out of work.

The closing is part of a a planned phaseout that GSK announced in 2010, when the British pharmaceutical giant said it would relocate the Clifton, N.J. plant to upstate New York, The Newark Star-Ledger reported. The plant once employed 270. A notification of the layoffs was filed with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. So-called WARN notices are required for when employers with 100 or more employees conduct mass layoffs.

A GSK spokeswoman told the Star-Ledger that the plant’s production will shut down Thursday but decommissioning work at the plant will continue until June 30, 2014.

Employees at the Clifton site have the opportunity for jobs at a GSK plant two hours drive north in upstate New York. The Clifton site makes consumer products like Aquafresh and Sensodyne toothpastes.

GSK operates its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park.