Posted on 02/16/2004 11:21:48 AM PST by Dubya
KANNAPOLIS - Nearly seven months after textile giant Pillowtex shut down, wiping out 4,800 jobs in the largest mass layoff in North Carolina history, the hunt for work is growing more pressing.
Job hunters are growing nervous. For most, benefits will expire this summer.
"When they first came in, they were probably still in shock," said Linda Burton, an Employment Security Commission officer who works in a small office just a few hundred yards from the shuttered Pillowtex mill.
"Now it’s really coming home that time is ticking away, and at some point they’re not going to have any money. Folks are getting a little bit more anxious and a little bit more demanding," she said as a couple of dozen laid-off Pillowtex workers waited to demonstrate they’re trying to find work or are enrolled in classes.
Of the 4,300 Pillowtex workers in Cabarrus and Rowan counties who lost their jobs, ESC officials estimate that 400 have found work. Perdue Farms’ chicken-processing plant in Concord took about 50, and NorthEast Medical Center has hired about 25, ESC officials said.
At least 1,500 have flooded local colleges, particularly Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, where many are wrestling with fractions or algebra after decades away from the classroom.
Others have retired, or moved away.
But perhaps as many as 1,800 people are like Eddie Cruey – still hunting for work.
Mr. Cruey, a thin 39-year-old wearing a cap and gray T-shirt, sat across from Ms. Burton recently to answer her questions – the key to receiving $184 a week in benefits. In his job packing sheets at a Pillowtex plant in Concord, he earned closer to $500 a week.
Like other Pillowtex workers, Mr. Cruey has been required to search for jobs. He must check in every four weeks.
Staring at her computer screen, Ms. Burton starts the questioning for the week ending Jan. 17.
"Did you do any work that week? Did you receive any other type of pay? Did you refuse any jobs?"
Mr. Cruey answers each with a soft, low "No, ma’am."
"Are you able and available?"
Mr. Cruey smiles, then chuckles quietly to himself. "Yes." There are too many able and available workers around Kannapolis.
The unemployment rates in Cabarrus and Rowan counties have fallen slightly since they spiked last summer, but are still almost double what they were a year ago.
Laid-off workers at the front of the ESC office tell stories about being turned away from jobs at Concord’s new Wal-Mart and Kohl’s – retail jobs that pay less and offer fewer benefits than jobs at the mill.
Just before the office closes for the day, Georgia Gilby, a wiry 43-year-old comes to visit Ms. Burton for the final time.
Ms. Gilby worked at Pillowtex as a specialist in computer-assisted design, a process that translates designers’ ideas for towels to the looms that weave them.
After months of looking, after sending out resumes and working contacts, she has found a job in Kentucky. A government program will help her get settled
As Ms. Gilby walks out, Ms. Burton marvels at the rare success.
"Where she’s going, she has a job, and one that pays in the $50,000 range," Ms. Burton says. "How many people are going to find something like that?"
I wonder how Sen Edwards feel with his trail laywers friends earning $500/HOUR
If one has no skills, that is true.
If one does, however, there are jobs all over the place.
Would you be willing to list where they can get these good jobs and I will work very hard getting the list out to all these people who need jobs.
Its great that you have this info.
They really need help getting these good jobs.
February 12, 2004
Lozier buys Pillowtex's Scottsboro plant
Retail-store fixtures supplier Lozier Corp. has purchased a Pillowtex Corp. plant in Scottsboro and plans to expand the company's manufacturing capacity.The 277,000-square-foot facility primarily will be used to manufacture storage shelving and a variety of wood products. Omaha, Neb.-based Lozier has manufacturing facilities in Alabama, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Utah.
"This announcement is wonderful economic news for Alabama," Gov. Bob Riley says in a written statement. "Lozier Corp. already employs hundreds of Alabamians and has contributed greatly to the economic growth of our state."
Pillowtex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, costing 6,450 employees their jobs, including 265 in Scottsboro.
Lozier manufactures steel display shelving and accessories, wire displays, wood showcases, counters, pharmacy shelving, storage shelving, pallet racks and garment racks for the retail industry.
Today, taxpayers are covering two-thirds of her former wages on the condition that she take advantage of the government's offer of a free education. So at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Jackson, a 29-year-old high school dropout with a GED, is training to become a teacher's aide. Being an elementary schoolteacher was always a dream."But a teacher's aide makes $8 an hour. A teacher's salary begins at $21,000 to $25,000 per year around here," she said. "With overtime last year, I earned $34,000 at the factory."
Maybe the big shots were going to cut their pay and their benefits so they wouldn't be in the hole.
At least they were in 11 and trying to get back on their feet.
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