Cavalier to terminate 124 jobs
By Deborah Bennett Millen News Editor

Approximately 124 employees of Cavalier Home Builders, Inc. will lose their jobs due to "work force reduction and reorganization of the plant's production process." (Staff photo by Deborah Bennett)

Cavalier Home Builders, Inc. announced last week that approximately 124 employees of the facility, a mobile home manufacturer, would lose their jobs due to "work force reduction."

In a letter given employees, Jeff Mooring, division president, wrote, "It is with great regret that we announce to you today that we must have a work force reduction at the Millen Division that will coordinate our capacity and production with our ongoing sales. Our plans over the next two months are to reduce production levels and to consolidate the production of both plants into one big production line."

According to the letter, the work force reduction will be done in two phases. Phase I was the reduction in the work force of all personnel considered probationary or parttime. Everyone who had been employed with Cavalier less than 180 days was terminated last week.

Phase II will involve repositioning employees between the two local plants that Cavalier currently operates, resulting in the elimination of 75-85 jobs, including both hourly and administrative personnel.

Employees included in Phase II will be offered severance benefits if they stay and finish their requested schedule of work. Those who are notified and decide to voluntarily leave before their termination date will not receive severance pay.

The Georgia Department of Labor, which operates a Transitional Center, in The Millen News building, has been notified of the work force reduction and is prepared to assist Cavalier employees who have lost their jobs.

The loss of jobs at Cavalier, combined with positions lost at the local Jockey International plant in 2006 and earlier this year, means that approximately 1/3 of Jenkins County's industrial workforce will be unemployed.

Cavalier Home Builders, Inc. has been operating the Millen plant since 1997, after merging with Belmont Homes, which had purchased the facility.