Wilber Bank to lay off a quarter of employees after merger

In the wake of a merger with Community Bank System, a banking company based near Syracuse, the Oneonta-based Wilber National Bank has announced they're making 63 layoffs. The Daily Star reports:

Monday's announcement "slammed" the dedicated employees of 10, 20 and 30 years who were put on hold for months about the fate of their jobs, a long-time staffer said Monday night.

"The employees didn't deserve this," the employee said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears public comment would jeopardize a severance package. "The atmosphere has been really bad for quite a while."

Most of the layoffs will be in the greater Oneonta region, the story says. In the Catskills region, Wilber has branches in Boiceville, Delhi, Sidney, Walton, Downsville, Fleischmanns, and Cobleskill.

Though the Daily Star mentions a press release about the layoffs, neither Wilber nor Community Bank has posted one on their website. Here's last week's press release from Community Bank about the merger, though. A sample:

“The overwhelming support of Wilber shareholders regarding the merger is important as we move toward combining Wilber with Community Bank System to create an even stronger financial institution,” said Community Bank System’s President and Chief Executive Officer Mark E. Tryniski. “We look forward to building upon Wilber National Bank’s impressive history of service to its customers and its communities, a tradition and focus that we share with Wilber National Bank.”