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January 9, 2008
Alamance County officials braced for another significant blow to the area's textile industry Tuesday with word that Gold Toe Moretz plans to announce a major layoff today at its sock plant in Burlington.
Initial reports indicated that more than 300 people could lose their jobs. Gold Toe officials could not be reached to confirm those numbers.
The company employs between 600 and 700 people in Alamance, a county hard hit by layoffs in the textile industry.
"Obviously, it doesn't sound very good," said Burlington City Manager Harold Owen, who spoke with Gold Toe officials Tuesday.
"Something is going on, but I don't know what the overall impact will be."
The layoffs are expected to hit the company's Annedeen plant on Plaid Street in Burlington, a mill that runs three shifts and makes men's and women's socks.
Owen said Gold Toe officials spent Tuesday notifying workers at the plant and are expected to provide public details today.
It could not be determined Tuesday whether the plant will close.
Regardless of the number of jobs lost, the layoffs will further speed the unraveling of North Carolina's sock industry.
Since Jan. 1, 2006, the state's sock mills have laid off more than 3,600 employees, industry representatives say. Many of those losses have been blamed on the Central America Free Trade Agreement, which removed tariffs from all sock imports from that region beginning in April 2006.
"The trade policy and tax policy of our own government have stacked the deck against domestic manufacturing," said Jim Schollaert, a Washington representative for about 50 U.S. sock makers. "Congress and the administration so far are doing little to stop the unfair, predatory import practices, which produce larger profits for investors and retailers. This is a prescription for disaster for our domestic manufacturing base and its communities."
Schollaert said private equity investors and big box retailers are driving U.S. sock makers out of business or off shore "as fast as they can."
The layoffs follow the merger of the two major sock manufacturers just 18 months ago.
In August 2006, Gold Toe Investment and Moretz merged, creating one of the largest global sock companies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal was backed by The Blackstone Group, a private investment and advisory firm that acquired Gold Toe and combined the two companies.
Talk of the pending layoffs began to circulate at Christmas.
"If it is a significant layoff, obviously you feel for the people losing their jobs," City Manager Owen said. "It would obviously have an impact on the community."
The layoffs could be the largest in the Alamance textile industry since January 2005, when WestPoint Stevens laid off 560 workers at its plant and distribution center off Interstate 40/85 in Burlington.
Local officials said Tuesday they feared another setback.
"If all of this is going to be the case, it will be a sad day and a hard day," said Mac Williams, president of the Alamance County Chamber of Commerce.
"We recognize the global forces at work. All we can do is respond and try to make the best of it."
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