Ron Hamilton, Shelbyville News Staff Writer
According to a union representative from the Collins-Aikman Products Co. in Morristown, the factory is shutting down and closing its doors at the end of March.
That will leave at least 325 people out of work, perhaps a fourth of them from Shelby County.
The facility, located at 2782 U.S. Highway 52, was known as Randall Textron until 1992, when it changed its name to Textron Automotive. Since its purchase in 2002 by Collins-Aikman, it has been a leading producer of cockpit modules, automobile floor and acoustic systems, instrument panels and plastic-based trim.
The plant's closing has left the president of United Auto Workers Local No. 2052, Doug Payne, more than a little bitter, frustrated and angry. According to Payne, the departing company is not paying its workers their earned vacation pay nor offering severance packages to most of its employees.
"Company spokesmen have told us that there's no money, yet the CEO of the company, Frank Macher, resigned a month ago and was awarded $700,000 in severance," Payne said. "If they can afford almost a million dollars for the CEO, why can't they pay their employees what they deserve? The company has played it dirty and lied to us while they've been phasing down."
Corporate headquarters for Collins-Aikman is located in Southfield, Mich. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2005. Since that time, the company has abandoned all efforts to reorganize and is now seeking buyers for its properties.
In early January, Payne received a letter from the company notifying him that the company would be closing down by early March. That period was recently extended to the last of the month in order to complete and ship final orders and document machine inventory.
According to a recent article published in the January issue of Industry Focus magazine, a Collins-Aikman plant in Americus, Ga., recently shut down because of financial trouble. The magazine described Collins-Aikman a "financially-troubled Michigan auto-parts company linked to a securities fraud investigation."
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