Sure Fit to close plant, lay off 180
By Michele SanFilippo -- Home Textiles Today, 7/19/2004
NEW YORK — Slipcover manufacturer Sure Fit will be closing down its sewing facility on Marcon Boulevard in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pa., by Sept. 23. Approximately 180 employees, primarily sewers, will lose their jobs. The plant's remaining 350 employees will work at the company's two facilities in Upper Macungie Township.
According to Karen Cavage, a Sure Fit employee and president of the Local 2552T of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, 153 union members will be affected by the plant closing. "Unfortunately, no severance package has been established due to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, so these workers will only have benefits through the end of September unless their unused vacation time pushes them into October," explained Cavage.
Sure Fit has been trying to consolidate facilities and increase the amount of its foreign-produced goods from about 70 percent at present to 90 percent by year's end. The company has slashed $20 million in expenses by trimming costs, such as the size of its catalogs.
At press time, executives from Sure Fit had not returned phone calls or email inquiries.
