Layoffs extend to Thomasville Furniture in Appomattox

Layoffs this week at Thomasville Furniture in Appomattox are the latest in a string of job reductions in the Lynchburg area this month.

Virginia Layoffs database

Workers at the plant received layoff notices Friday morning at the end of their shift, following an announcement by the plant’s parent company Thursday that it was shedding 1,400 jobs nationwide.

The plant is one of the largest employers in Appomattox County.

“I can’t tell you what a hit we’re going to take,“ said Del. Watkins Abbitt, I-Appomattox. “When people get laid off, they don’t buy tires, they don’t buy hamburgers, they don’t go out to eat.“

Abbitt said some workers who received their layoff notice after the third shift ended on Friday told him the number of layoffs this week was probably between 100 and 150 workers.

The Thomasville reductions follow a similar move by furniture maker Frank Chervan Inc., which said Dec. 2 that it would close most of its Bedford plant, affecting 90 workers. Some of those workers could be hired on at the company’s Roanoke factory, the company said.

Later that week, Automated Conveyor Systems in Lynchburg laid off about 20 workers.

And Pitney Bowes, a company that provides business mailing services and equipment, has filed notice with the state of a layoff affecting 172 people in Lynchburg by Dec. 31.

At Thomasville Furniture, the number of affected employees may have fallen just short of the threshold that would have required a public notice to the town and the state.

Federal law requires the notice if at least 33 percent of employees are laid off in a 30- day period. In 2006, the factory employed 600 workers, meaning 198 would have to be laid off before notice was required.

Furniture Brands International Inc., the plant’s parent company, said it is cutting its U.S. work force by 15 percent because of the continuing soft retail market. The reductions include management as well as production jobs.

John Hastings, company spokesman, would not say this week how many employees in Appomattox were affected.

The elimination of many management, professional and hourly jobs is expected to save more than $20 million a year starting early next year, the company said.

Hastings said the decrease in production jobs means the employees who remain will be less likely to have reduced hours. “(We’re) balancing our staffing level with the amount of business that we think we’ll have,” he said.

Furniture Brands makes and sell furniture under brands such as Broyhill, Lane and Thomasville.

The Thomasville factory in Appomattox makes some furniture under a contract basis, for retailers to put their own brands on, Hastings said.

Staff writers Bryan Gentry and Ray Reed and The Associated Press contributed.