Crane Postpones Reopening; Bernard Asks for Clarity

The past week has been a roller coaster for the more than 200 workers at Crane Stationery.

The communications coming out the company's parent, Mohawk Fine Papers of Cohoes, N.Y., have at times been contradictory with employees unsure of the future of the 220-year-old paper brand.

The questions about the company's decision to reopen operations at the Curran Highway plant led to an order by Mayor Thomas Bernard that the printer submit a health safety plan and ensure that it's only doing essential work as outlined the state during the novel coronavirus.

This was greeted as a "retaliation" by Mohawk's chairman, Thomas D. O'Connor Jr., who told The Berkshire Eagle on Sunday that the company couldn't meet the city's demands in time to open on Monday and suggested the mayor was trying to run them out of town.

Bernard, in turn, says he just wants clarity on the company's plans because what he's being told isn't what's being communicated in writing. He's previously said city has stood ready to help the company in whatever way it can.

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