Furniture Company Expected to Announce Major Job Cuts
April 28th, 2007 Category FurnitureFurniture Brands International, the parent company of Thomasville Furniture Industries and several other furniture manufacturers, will announce across the board job cuts Friday.
A Thomasville Furniture spokesman would not comment Thursday on the possible cuts, but the word is spreading quickly among workers who have said they have heard the news, but have not yet been given specifics.
Wayne Clark has worked for Thomasville Furniture for 28 years. “It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been there or how faithful you are,” said Clark. “The company isn’t faithful to you now.”
No one has told Clark and other employees how many jobs are being cut or the reason why, other than a realignment of the furniture brand. Something Clark and Winston-Salem Journal business reporter Richard Craver have heard before.
“They are leading the industry in taking product production offshore,” said Craver, “and with furniture companies they often do plant closings on Friday, so historically there’s a pattern.”
After spending more than half his life making furniture, Clark isn’t sure what he’ll do next. He wonders if the pride Thomasville put into furniture making can continue somewhere else.
“We put more emotion and feeling into the work that we do and I don’t know what they’ll do over there,” said Clark.
Information from: www.myfoxwghp.com
