Jockey announces closing of Millen plant
By Deborah Bennett Millen News Editor

The remaining 60 employees at the local plant of Jockey International received word last week that their jobs will be terminated, beginning this week, with a complete shutdown of the plant expected by September.

Approximately 200 Jockey employees lost their jobs in 2006 when sewing operations at the facility were terminated. The cutting department was the only operation spared in the initial shutdown.

The total loss of jobs at the Jockey plant represents approximately 25 percent of Jenkins County's industrial workforce of 1,025.

Tim Pitt, Jockey's vice-president of global marketing, said the closure of the cutting department was due to the closing of a Jockey plant in Sandy Bay, Jamaica. The closing of the Sandy Bay plant affects 550 employees.

"The Millen cutting department cuts parts for the Sandy Bay plant, and there will no longer be a need to cut cloth in Millen and ship it to Sandy Bay," Pitt said.

While Jockey officials have denied any connection between the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the loss of jobs at the Millen plant, officials acknowledged during the2006 initial closure that the decision to shift Millen sewing productions was made "after a careful consideration of the costs of operating in the United States."

CAFTA is a trade agreement that ended most tariffs and import restrictions between the United States, Costa Rico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic when it was approved in 2005. Jockey International has plants in 12 foreign countries, including three of the CAFTA countries.

Jockey will provide impacted employees with redundancy pay, notice pay and job skill training assistance. The Georgia Department of Labor has established a temporary local office at 856 Cotton Avenue (The Millen News building) to assist Jockey employees.