Posted on 12/10/2003 8:50:48 AM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
HOLLAND -- Baker Furniture Co., one of the last of West Michigan's high-end residential furniture makers, will close its Holland plant within nine months, a move that will cost 166 workers their jobs.
On Tuesday, Baker told employees about the decision to leave Holland and move the jobs to other Baker plants in North Carolina.
The decision to move production will have "absolutely no impact whatsoever," on Baker's headquarters in Grand Rapids, said Dan Bradley, president of Baker, Knapp &Tubbs. Baker maintains office and warehouse space on Monroe Avenue near Ann Street NW.
Bradley, who lives in North Carolina, would not comment further about the decision.
Although it has operations in North Carolina, Baker was one of a few West Michigan furniture makers that survived the post-World War II mass exodus to the south and its cheaper labor.
In its heyday, the Holland factory employed 450 and was the flagship plant for one of the most respected furniture companies in the world, said Hollis M. Baker, whose family sold the company in 1965.
"I can't believe it," he said from his Florida home. "It's too bad. That was once the top Baker Furniture plant with the finest workforce you could find. It is a devastating loss."
For more than two years, residential furniture makers have suffered through the flood of foreign-made furniture and the stock market tumble that ate into the portfolios of their well-heeled customers.
John Aves, an industry analyst whose father went to work for Baker Furniture Co. in Grand Rapids in 1939, said Baker was one of the West Michigan furniture makers that started the tradition of fine furniture making.
He said low-cost foreign furniture makers have driven down the cost for mid-priced furniture.
"The Chinese have spoiled us," said Aves, who writes a monthly column on foreign competition for a furniture industry magazine.
High-end furniture makers such as Baker, who use intricately carved parts and expensive finishes, have been squeezed by consumers who want more for less, even for fine furniture.
"Baker is in a very, very difficult market sector," Aves said.
In a written statement, Bradley said the furniture industry has been one of the hardest hit by the economic downturn.
"The decision to close our facility in Holland was one of the most difficult we have ever had to make," he said.
Baker is not alone in cutting furniture production jobs. Nationwide about 34,700 wood furniture workers, or 28 percent of the domestic workforce, have lost their jobs in the past several years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Job cuts also have hit Holland-based Sligh Furniture Co. Just 149 employees remain of the 320 Sligh had at its height in 2001. The company uses furniture produced in the Philippines and Mexico to fill out its product line and save money on extensively carved or hand-painted parts.
Baker executives said in the written statement that they "will be working proactively to support and assist the facility's 166 employees, which includes both administrative and production personnel."
The announcement Tuesday left employees wondering about their futures.
"I have some friends who have been here for 35 years. There's one guy I know who has been here 48 years," a 42-year-old machine leader said this morning.
The worker, who did not want to be named, said employees were told Tuesday that work at the Holland plant would be phased out over nine months.
"They expect to be completely through in August," he said.
The announcement caught many employees off guard, but others knew it might happen, the worker said.
"There has been a downturn in the economy for quite some time, and this Baker plant is really out of the loop. Most of the company's other plants are down south."
He was hopeful about finding a new job. "The economy is on an upswing, so for me it's not the end of the world."
Former Holland Mayor Neal Berghoef, who retired as manager of Baker's Holland operation in 1986, said the plant's closing will be a sad milestone.
"Baker has been here a long time in Holland, and they have made some very fine furniture," he said. "It is kind of sad to see that disappear."
Berghoef started at Baker as a furniture draftsman in 1957, a year after immigrating to West Michigan from the Netherlands. He worked his way through the ranks to become manager of the Holland operations.
He retired after Baker closed its Sixth Street plant, which was near the Freedom Village retirement center along the Lake Macatawa waterfront.
Berghoef said the closing is a sign of the times. In the 1960s, Baker was owned by an individual family but was sold several times in following years.
"Every time that happens, they lose a little bit of their identity," he said.
The decision sent shockwaves through the Grand Rapids furniture community.
Robert Fogarty, chairman of Grand Rapids-based Kindel Furniture, said it is "a sad day for West Michigan."
"They're an icon. The Baker of old was an absolutely first class company," he said. "This is a blow, not only to the high-end furniture business, but for the history of furniture making in Grand Rapids."
The Baker name long has been synonymous with its reproductions of 18th century American and European antiques. But the company may be best known for its annual factory sale, for which thousands of bargain-seekers queue up outside the Grand Rapids warehouse, looking to latch on to imperfect, if deeply discounted, pieces.
Baker carved its niche in the bustling Furniture City scene. The dwindling number of residential furniture makers now include the Sligh and Kindel companies.
Baker began in 1890 as Cook, Baker &Co. of Allegan. In 1933, Baker moved its factories to Holland.
The Baker family sold the company in 1965. Today, it is a subsidiary of Kohler Co.
Baker distributes its furniture through more than 300 independent retailers, including Klingman's in Grand Rapids.
The company also has 12 retail stores -- 10 in the United States and in London and Paris.
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U.S. Furniture Makers to Seek Protection From China Imports
Stoneville Furniture shuts down plant, lays off 200
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Baker leaving Holland
Furniture maker employs 166, has been fixture in the city since 1933By LESA INGRAHAM
Staff writer - The Holland SentinelAfter 70 years in Holland, Baker Furniture Co. plans to close the doors of its East 24th Street plant next year.
Company officials notified its 166 employees Tuesday that work at the plant would be phased out over nine months.
"The decision to close our facility in Holland was one of the most difficult we have ever had to make," Dan Bradley, president of Baker, Knapp & Tubbs Inc., which owns Baker Furniture Co., said in a written statement. The Grand Rapids-based company runs three other plants in North Carolina and operations likely will move to those sites, a company spokeswoman said.
Company officials declined further comment, but Baker has been hurt, along with other West Michigan manufacturers, by a severe downturn in demand for high-end residential furniture. The company laid off about 40 production workers in July.
One Baker employee told The Sentinel that staff at the factory were gathered together around 2 p.m. and told a new contract would not be negotiated after production workers' four-year union agreement expires Friday.
The employee, who declined to be named, said there were "hurt feelings" and "a lot of unhappiness" when the announcement was made. But the employee said news of the closing wasn't a complete surprise because of the slowdown in business.
"You would have to be naive not to see it coming," he said.
He said that employees weren't told about severance packages or the possibility of jobs in other Baker facilities.
"That might come later," he said. "They just told us they are going to start gradually moving the operations down south."
A press release from the company said it "will be working proactively to support and assist" the facility's employees, which includes both administrative and production personnel.
While it was founded in 1890 in Allegan, Baker Furniture has deep roots in Holland. The company was moved to Holland in 1933 by Hollis Baker, son of its founder, Siebe Baker.
The company remained in the Baker family until 1969, when it was sold to Magnavox. In 1972 Knapp and Tubbs purchased the business and formed Baker, Knapp & Tubbs. In 1986, Baker, Knapp & Tubbs in turn was purchased by Wisconsin-based Kohler Co.
Former Holland Mayor Neal Berghoef, who retired in 1986 after 29 years at Baker, said Holland is losing part of its history with the plant closing.
"I hate to see it close," said Berghoef, who managed both the Sixth Street plant, where Freedom Village now stands, and the 24th Street plant.
"The history of Baker is really in Holland. It is a piece of history and to see it closing is kind of a disappointment," Berghoef said. "It's sad."
Jane Clark, executive director of the Holland Area Chamber of Commerce, echoed Berghoef's statements.
"It's sad news," Clark said. "It's been a fixture in the community for many years."
The past three years haven't been easy for the residential furniture industry, according to Robert Sligh, chairman of another local furniture maker, Holland-based Sligh Furniture.
Sligh Furniture has experienced similar economic problems to those of Baker, something Sligh said comes in cycles. While he said he thinks there is a future for residential furniture in West Michigan, he doesn't know if it will look the same.
"We are talking about high-end residential furniture, and when the stock market comes down or things change, people stop making those types of purchases," Sligh said.
An industry analyst said the high-end residential furniture market isn't usually hit as hard as other sectors during a recession, but this time was an exception because of the severe downturn in the stock market.
"In 2002 the market collapsed in an alarming way without precedent and people didn't feel as wealthy as they had before," said Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst with Mann, Armistead & Epperson, a Virginia-based research and investment banking firm.
Epperson added he has seen an upswing in the furniture industry in the last few months.
"I think people are starting to buy luxury goods again," Epperson said.
Sligh concurred with that assessment.
"I think it is beginning to rebound a bit. Our orders have been up slightly since about July," he said.
Mary Kay Schoon, program assistant with the Holland office of Michigan Works! employment services, said her organization will try to help the Baker employees.
"We will try to meet with management and then see if we can set up some meetings with the employees," Schoon said. "They can start looking for a job now if they want to."
Baker timeline
* 1890: Founded in Allegan
* 1933: Company moved to Holland
* 1969: Sold to Magnavox
* 1972: Knapp and Tubbs purchased the business and formed Baker, Knapp & Tubbs
* 1986: Baker, Knapp & Tubbs purchased by Wisconsin-based Kohler Co.
I wonder how many of these "workers" were full time union stewards, engaged in blocking the management at every turn and raising overhead far higher than need be?
I can tell you that some union officers can make management so miserable, not because there are real problems but because the guy has to get elected again, that it gets very heavy weight in the equation to shut down/relocate. High quality requires skilled workers and they cost. It is the union obstruction that triggers these decisions. Alas, no management will ever acknowledge that fact; cost considerations are always an easy out.
It's appropriate for you to qualify your query with the term "ostensibly", because we do not have a capitalist, free market economy. Our economy is heavily perverted by government intervention. The convoluted policies of the current administration serve to benefit only the practitioners of transnational corporatism and should be viewed as an assault against the long term prosperity and security of the American Middle Class.
It is however inappropriate to dodge the question again. How many millions of jobs 'should' be lost in the U.S. in a given year? You're not even scraping the surface with your posts, as I've pointed out that for the last decade 27 - 35 million jobs are 'lost' each year. What should it be? You take a stab that that and we can move onto the interesting stuff like how do you know how much it should be.
I'm not dodging the question, I'm ignoring it.
I consider it to be an adolescently simple-minded troll, somewhat akin to the hackneyed "Did you ever stop beating your wife".
The issue is not job turnover. It is the loss of our independence, self-sufficiency, security and standard of living as globalization merges us into parity with Third World standards.
That's not entirely true. Initially you said that the current churn was a sign of an unstable economy. I ask simply for clarification. What 'should' the job churn be? You clearly feel you know how much is too much, so share with me how much is enough, and how much is too little.
It is the loss of our independence, self-sufficiency, security and standard of living as globalization merges us into parity with Third World standards.
If you want economic independence and self sufficiency you're welcome to it. But having lived on a family farm myself, I gotta tell you that life isn't what I want, or many other Americans either.
You see a symptom (trade imbalances) of something that you know is a problem, but you have a remedy for the symptom (not the actual disease) that is nearly as bad as the disease itself. Instead of recognizing our problems stem from profligate monetary creation, you have attacked trade itself, the very process by which men improve their lives. Return the nation to a sound currency and the trade imbalances that vex you will be addressed by the market. Putting up trade barriers while the emperor runs the printing press isn't going to help, it will only exacerbate the problems.
And what are the effects on the long term prosperity and security of the American Upper Class and the American Lower Class?
Remember Willie, you can't have an American Middle Class if there is no American Upper and Lower Class.
So leave. Nobody's stopping you. I'm more concerned with those who want to stay and prosper. If you want to leave, good riddance.
Prosperity is lopsided and divergent, benefitting primarily the former. This short-sightedness is what leads to declining security for all, no matter their economic status.
Remember Willie, you can't have an American Middle Class if there is no American Upper and Lower Class.
But the existance of an Upper and Lower does not determine that a Middle will continue to expand and prosper.
No. Man has improved life on earth by converting raw materials and natural resources into more useful forms utilizing continually improving technologies. Trade may or may not facilitate this process under different sets of circumstances, but trade is NOT "the very process by which men improve their lives".
So leave. Nobody's stopping you. I'm more concerned with those who want to stay and prosper. If you want to leave, good riddance.
Leave the family farm? Already did. My standard of living went up too!
Of course you're still dodging the question of how many jobs should be 'lost' each year in a capitalist, free market economy. It makes the posts about "200 jobs lost", etc. pointless without reference. I guess tacit acknowledgement of the fact you have no freaking clue is as close as I'll get to an answer on that.
Help me with this puzzle. If we trade dollars to Japan for a car, and they trade those dollars to Kuwait for oil, and Kuwait trades those dollars to the U.S. for an Abrams tank, how do you figure out who has an imbalance to whom? Is anyone worse off?
Then go a month without trade and tell me what happens. I'd like to see how many raw materials you personally harvest and personally convert into more useful forms to achieve your current standard of living. The 98% of the U.S. not currently working on a farm are going to get awfully hungry without being able to trade. Trade is what permits specialization and is an incalculable factor of the enormous productivity we enjoy. How long, without trade, do you think it would take you to personally harvest the raw materials and convert them into an automobile or a computer? How many hours would you have to put into your current job to buy an automobile or a computer?
Interesting you mentioned this.
We know of a auto repair that is in escrow.
A Taiwanese group just bought it.
The current owner of 30 years, tells me the Taiwanese are going to raise prices, for repair and parts, and hire their own mechanics. It's just a little 4 bay shop.
Sad, they used to serve free coffee, did real good repair work, they were really personable and friendly.
Friday is the last day.
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