Local New Era cap workers are in limbo right now. They don't know if they're going to have jobs soon. Company officials told employees on Thursday they're consolidating nationally from three plants down to one and they're still deciding if the local New Era plant in Derby will be among those shut down. The parking lot of the Derby plant was nearly deserted by Thursday afternoon. Company officials sent home the close to 400 workers there after breaking the consolidation news to them.
"It made sense at the point to send everyone home from those facilities with pay for the day so they could share the news and kind of digest everything that occurred," explains New Era President Pete Augustine. Workers will return for work as usual on Friday.
New Era says they're victims of the bad economy. The company president says fewer people are buying custom caps that are one of New Era's core products along with their authentic collection of caps for Major League Baseball. "The big hit we've seen is on those domestic customs where the smaller consumers that typically support that are getting hit with credit issues and going out of business, lots of closed doors," says Augustine.
So, New Era is consolidating from three manufacturing plants to one. So far Eyewitness News has learned the Jackson, Alabama plant will close. That leaves Derby or Demopolis, Alabama as the lone surviving plant. Local union representatives say Derby is the most efficient of New Era's plant and that could work in its favor along with its proximity to corporate headquarters in downtown Buffalo. Company officials will meet with union representatives next week to discuss which plant survives.
"Hopefully as the economy turns and we get through that process it'll also mean the remaining facility would probably add somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 jobs," says Augustine. Whether the Derby plant will be adding jobs or laying people off might not be known for weeks.
"We don't like to leave people hanging out there like that. Unfortunately there's really no way around the method we have to follow to get to the final conclusion here," says Augustine.
Nothing will change at the New Era flagship store downtown. It will remain open for business as usual throughout this process. C.W.A. union officials say any changes at the Derby plant are still several months away and if it's marked for a shut down that would likely not happen until the second quarter of 2010.
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