Feb. 19--OGDENSBURG -- More then 20 employees at the ACCO Brands Inc. facilities in Ogdensburg will see pay reductions over the next few months.

The 47 percent pay reductions will start Monday and will affect 11 salaried workers at the distribution center and 12 salaried employees at the manufacturing plant. About five others, from human resources and finance departments, will be affected as well.

The pay reductions will be only for managers and office workers and will not affect the hourly workers at either the distribution or manufacturing plant, company spokesman Richard Nelson said.

The 47 percent reduction will continue until March, when pay will be restored to 80 percent. The company will continue to evaluate its performance and make a decision regarding the second half of the year about June, Mr. Nelson said.

"We're cautiously optimistic that the second half of the year we'll see an improvement and we'll be able to restore full pay to our affected employees," Mr. Nelson said.

He said the decision to reduce the salaried pay was made because sales for the global office supplies manufacturing company continue to fall as a result of the economic downturn.

"We've been working closely with customers to forecast future demand for the year and we've concluded that 2009 will be extremely challenging from a sales perspective, so as a result we need to take these actions to make sure we make our earnings requirements for the full year," Mr. Nelson said.

The company, which held a weeklong furlough at the Ogdensburg plant earlier this year, is looking at similar cuts at its facilities across the globe, Mr. Nelson said.

"Each business across the world is being asked to look at its performance and take similar actions to make sure that they meet their financial targets. In each part of the world similar things are being done and this is what we're doing in the United States," Mr. Nelson said.

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