Textle plant to close after six decades, EAST DUBLIN, Ga.

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/16827280.htm

Posted on Sat, Mar. 03, 2007

Textle plant to close after six decades
Associated Press

EAST DUBLIN, Ga. - A simple decision to switch from wool to polyester hats for Major League Baseball players was the final out for a 60-year-old textile plant - once the county's largest employer.

Victor Forstmann Inc. officials announced the plant's closing Friday, blaming the loss of its biggest customer after a steady decline in business because of foreign competition over the last 15 years. The plant, which employed 1,500 people in its heyday in the 1990s, now employs just 124.

Those employees will work at the plant at least through April, with some continuing a few months after that while the inventory is shipped.

The plant was built in 1947 by the J.P. Stevens textile company. It became Forstmann in 1986 and then Victor Forstmann in 1999 when the Quebec-based Victor Woolens bought the bankrupt company.

At the time of the merger, plants in Louisville and Milledgeville closed, leaving the East Dublin plant. Two years ago, the company laid off 159 people in East Dublin, leaving about that many employees at the plant.

Major League Baseball's switch to synthetic hats - a decision made to help cut down on sweat in players' eyes - was the "final nail the coffin" for the plant, said Yves Coderre, chief operating officer over Forstmann's fabric division.

"We did our best and our employees did their best, but it comes to a point that when it stops working, you've got to move on," Coderre said.

The company will put the 260-acre plot of land up for sale.

East Dublin is about 60 miles south of Macon.
Information from: The Macon Telegraph, http://www.macontelegraph.com

[MADem]

1. Wow. I remember when a lot of those industries left the Northeast for the

"cheap wages" South. Shoes, textiles...it's all getting offshored. For "cheaper wages" still...

[AndyA]

2. Progress as promised by the Bush Administration/Republicans

Free Trade is good, that's why all our jobs are evaporating.

We don't need jobs here anyway, right? We can live on credit and have a thriving economy!

It's the Bush Way.

:sarcasm:

[nealmhughes]

3. I'm surprised they are even still open, frankly. NAFTA killed US textiles.

Polyester caps for MLB? Anathema! Nothing fits so well as a well-worn wool fitted cap! Time to stock up, as they will be going fast, I presume, too bad they are over $30...

[Hosnon]

4. I wonder if any of the laid-off workers are strict free market capitalists and, if so,

whether they see the irony.