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December 3, 2006
The loss of nearly 400 jobs here this week dealt a disheartening blow to a community that has grown more accustomed to hosting ribbon-cutting ceremonies than factory layoffs.
West Point has shared in the economic wealth - along with Columbus and Starkville - that comes with the arrival of new, high-tech companies like SeverCorr, Aurora Flight Sciences and American Eurocopter to the Golden Triangle area. Together, these firms employ more than 1,000 people, and more jobs will likely follow.
But when the city's largest employer, Sara Lee, discontinued its Ready-To-Eat division and laid off 312 workers and 79 managers Friday at its Bryan Foods plant on West Church Hill Road, economic leaders had the unusual job of fielding the tough questions that come with such a move:
What does this mean for West Point and its roughly 12,000 residents?
What is the future of the city's manufacturing industry?
Where will the unemployed find new work?
How can the city protect the plant's remaining 1,000 workers so that they, too, don't lose their jobs?
Disappointing for all of us'
"Obviously, any time you lose upward of 400 jobs, it's certainly negative, not only for the community but for the workers and their families. It's disappointing for all of us," said Tim Climer, president of the Growth Alliance, the economic development organization for West Point and Clay County.
"Certainly Bryan Foods and Sara Lee is a big issue for us, a big challenge, but we're trying to mitigate it with a comprehensive strategy - housing initiatives, rekindling the Main Street Program, tourism initiatives and existing industry programs such as industry and commercial recruiting."
Like other Northeast Mississippi cities, West Point and the Golden Triangle are trying to transition from their heavy-manufacturing-based economy to one rooted in high-tech ventures and the service industry.
"Manufacturing jobs are leaving this country every day, and West Point is not immune to that," Climer said.
The lost jobs at Bryan Food didn't go to China, though. They went to other, similar facilities nationwide with more modern production capabilities - in other words, automated equipment.
But Climer is "comforted by the fact that we have opportunities in our community and our region with some of the high-tech-type endeavors that are coming to the area. We are also trying to spur more entrepreneurial growth. And our tourism and retail trade are producing jobs as well."
And Climer is working with Sara Lee representatives to keep the plant's remaining 1,000 workers employed as long as possible.
Such efforts seem fruitless to some recently laid-off staff who think the facility eventually will shut down entirely. They point out that Bryan has already consolidated numerous times - having reduced the work force from a peak of 2,000 employees down to its current level - during the 38 years that Sara Lee has owned it.
Bryan Foods started in 1909 when J.C. Bryan Sr. opened a small meat store in West Point. His two sons grew the business into a full-scale production plant in 1936. Sara Lee bought it in 1968.
"I've been here 21 years, and I've seen a lot of changes in that plant," said Eugene Ford, a worker who was laid off this week. "I've seen department after department close and leave. The Ready-To-Eat was the biggest department in the plant, so you know when that closes, it's not good."
The Ready-to-Eat operation produced diced ham, smoked meat and hot dogs. Remaining are the processing of bacon and fresh pork, and production of the company's Flavotech spice.
Eric Thomas, a laid-off smokehouse supervisor, predicted the facility will either launch a new round of layoffs or completely shut down before the next fiscal year.
"I don't see how it can survive without Ready-To-Eat and hot dogs," he said. "That was its backbone."
Company officials, which first announced the layoffs in June, won't talk about the plant's future in any specific terms. They prefer instead to provide a more generic response.
"We're studying all the options on how to best operate these functions and will take all of that into account as part of our long-term strategic business review," said Sara Matheu, company spokesperson.
But according to Eddie James, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1991, where most of Bryan's employees are members, "if it happens once, it can happen again."
And those on the chopping block face a new year of uncertainty in which they'll have to find new jobs or new career paths. Sara Lee offered a severance package and invited members of the Rapid Response Team on site Friday. Members helped the recently unemployed apply for new jobs and sign up for training programs and other opportunities.
Diane Gill, who was laid off after 12 years, said she'll likely take some marketing and management classes and open her own accessories shop. But Acie Vance, who worked at the plant for 37 years until Friday, took the layoffs as a sign that perhaps it's time to retire.
"Some people are upset. They have families to feed," Vance said. "But my kids are grown. I'm going to relax for awhile.
"I'll be all right."
And so will West Point, Climer said.
"We have a real nice community that has suffered some blows," he said, "but we're hopeful that we're on the way back."
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