Furniture-maker Flexsteel Industries is closing its Harrison, Ark., plant in late August as part of a companywide restructuring effort, leaving nearly 109 workers without jobs.
This story by John Magsam originally appeared in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Officials with city government and the local chamber of commerce were initially unaware of plans to close the plant, only hearing rumors of a possible closure on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Mayor Jerry Jackson received official notice of the plant closure from the Arkansas Department of Workforce Development through a required Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice. The federal act requires employers to provide advanced notice to local governments of impending plant closures.
According to the document, the plant will close on Aug. 20, or within 14 days after that, leaving 109 workers unemployed. None of the Flexsteel workers there are represented by a union. The majority of the jobs involved sewing and upholstery.
Bob Largent, president and CEO of the Harrison Chamber of Commerce, said that a job fair for the displaced workers will be held in mid-July and efforts are already underway to find jobs for the workers with Harrison’s other employers. He said the goal is to find a local job for each displaced Flexsteel worker.
In a release earlier this week, Flexsteel said the company expects to take an earnings hit of between $48 million to $53 million over the next two years as a result of the restructuring. The costs include last month’s announced plan to exit its commercial office and custom designed hospitality lines along with closing the company’s manufacturing facility in Riverside, Calif.
Flexsteel shares fell 57 cents, or 3.4 percent, to close at $16.12 in trading Thursday on the Nasdaq exchange.
