KANNAPOLIS — Some workers off this week as Pillowtex plants stand idle are using their time to try and garner support throughout the community for preserving their jobs.
They’re meeting with political, business and religious leaders and asking them to sign letters addressed to the bankrupt company and its largest lender, Charlotte-based Bank of America.
Union officials came to town Wednesday to update their members on what’s happening with the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and encourage them to keep the pressure on.
Mark Pitt, southern regional director for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, said the union is concerned that the company hasn’t communicated its plans and hasn’t ruled out eliminating jobs.
“They cannot, in our opinion, continue to say to people they’re exploring all options,” he said. “They’re saying anything is possible; we’re saying anything is not possible if it costs jobs.”
Pillowtex officials maintain they are working on a reorganization plan that will bring the company out of bankruptcy in a stronger position. At the same time, they say they are concerned with the fate of the workers.
But company officials have shaken the faith of workers and union leaders when they said they’ll consider moving some production — and jobs — elsewhere, Pitt said. Union leaders fear the plant idlings that have kept thousands out of work for weeks could become permanent.
To build support for preserving jobs, Pitt and others hope to meet with state and federal legislators. And some local union workers are collecting signatures on letters expressing concern over the fate of workers here.
One of the form letters tailored for clergy and addressed to Ken Lewis, Bank of America chief executive officer, talks about the potential impact of job losses on the community.
“Without the good-paying jobs that these workers have held for years ... the local merchants, churches, community organizations and tax base will all suffer profoundly, as will the workers and their families,” the letter says.
Judith Little, a union mill chair at Plant 1, said she has personally collected about 35 signatures on letters tailored for business owners.
By next week, she expects the number to be in the hundreds.
“Their businesses depend on our spending money with them,” she said. “Everyone I went out and spoke with has readily signed the letters. They do not want to see the doors close on these plants.”
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