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| Thursday, September 2, 2010 |
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Layoffs hit hard
Published October 30, 2006
Army tent material was manufactured for the U.S. government or military suppliers by the former Avondale Mills in Stevenson either just before or just after World War II. It made “some kind of cord” during the war.
Avondale was purchased by Shaw Industries, Inc., about 20 years ago.
The mill has been a mainstay for many, many people in Stevenson and the North Jackson area for nearly seven decades.
One of those retired workers is J. M. Brooks, 76, of Stevenson who worked at the Stevenson site for 33 1/2 years plus another 15 years in the carpet business for a plant in South Pittsburg, Tenn.
Brooks went to work for Avondale in 1946 shortly after World War II although he was a little young for service in WWII. Brooks said he remembers when Bob Shaw began Shaw Industries, Inc., in the 1970s.
Brooks said, “Shaw was a very good company to work for and I got acquainted with Bob Shaw, founder of Shaw Industries. Bob started out in the carpet business in a big old warehouse in Dalton. “He was a good man,” Brooks commented. “Avondale was in the yarn business at that time and we sold him yarn. I was one who looked after his account.”
Brooks said Avondale was a very good company, too, and was run by heirs of former Gov. B. B. Comer.
Brooks said he did not know the exact year, but Avondale was established in the 1930s.
When he last worked in Stevenson in 1980, there were three Avondale plants. One was the Mary Ann Plant, named for one of the Comer heirs, Grace and Hi-Jackson Plants. The Mary Ann Plant shutdown in 1980 and the Grace Plant is closing at the end of 2006. It has 236 employees. Shaw has 640 employees in Stevenson including the 236. This will leave only the Hi-Jackson Plant.
When the plant closed in 1980, Brooks chose to retire rather than move away to relocate and work somewhere else. He went to work at Salem Carpets in South Pittsburg without moving from Stevenson until 1995 when he again retired.
Brooks said it is almost unbelievable how many technological changes have taken place in the carpet manufacturing business in the last 60 years. When he first went to work, he said, “everything was done by hand.” Materials were transported by trains.
Brooks recalled that Avondale had a management program, which he entered and the company paid for his furthering of education while he worked full-time. This was done basically through college officials coming to the plant occasionally and through correspondence courses. He received diplomas in industrial engineering and business management.
Another senior citizen, who is retired, with a lengthy work record at the plant was C. W. Crownover, who was too ill to talk by phone Thursday or Friday. His wife suggested we talk with Brooks.
It is my understanding there are many, many people with good work records at the plant. There also seemed to be many husbands and wives who both worked there, especially in years past.
Times are changing and I don’t always feel that change is good, especially if it affects our jobs and quality of life, which we sometimes seem to gauge by money. But we wish the best for those affected by the layoffs 60 days from October 24 (December 24) and the others still employed.
We hope other jobs in the area can be obtained. Stevenson Mayor Rickey Steele appears to have a sincere desire to help those affected by the layoffs.
He stresses that people due to be laid off at Shaw not up and quit because if they do they will not be eligible for state benefits expected to become available.
It is sad this is another lick up to the side of the head for a textile business that is being choked out of competition by our own federal government and other countries.
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