Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

The head of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce has called for the information communication technology (ICT) sector to be expanded to the parish in order to cushion major downsizing operations planned by apparel company Jockey International.

More than 500 workers are expected to lose their jobs at the company's Sandy Bay sewing plant by the end of September, as a result of the downsizing exercise.

"The domino effect is going to be massive for the parish. It is not just the 550 workers and their families who will be affected, we have to look at the support services, such as transportation and food," Chamber President Theo Chambers told The Gleaner yesterday.

"Government should look immediately at having an extension of the ICT industry in Hanover."

Production shift

Production is to be shifted to Honduras and Costa Rica, along with increasing production with some sourcing partners in Central America.

"The Sandy Bay plant has been a good production site for Jockey's core cotton products since 1998, but due to a shift in consumer demand towards newer, higher engineered non-cotton products, there is a need to rebalance Jockey's internal production of core products," said the apparel firm's president and chief executive officer, Edward Emma, in a press release.

"The Jockey plant in Lucea (Hanover) will continue to produce core product its production levels have been adjusted as part of the rebalancing effort."

Assistance for employees

The 130-year-old manufacturer and marketer of apparel products - headquartered at Kenosha, Wisconsin in the United States - said affected employees would be provided with redundancy pay, notice pay and job skill training assistance.

"We also have to look at the possibility of cross-training those affected workers for the opening of Fiesta hotel (under construction in the parish) because we have to find ways of getting them re-employed," Mr. Chambers added.

Meanwhile, Archibald Edwards, manager for the Social Development Commission's office in Hanover, believes the downsizing operation will have a "negative, far-reaching social impact" as most of the female workers are single parents.

In a related development, the company will also be cutting operations at its Millen plant in Georgia, United States, by the end of September, axing 60 employees.

"This operation services the Sandy Bay plant and there will no longer be a need to cut cloth in Millen and ship it to Sandy Bay," explained Mr. Emma.

nagra.plunkett@gleanerjm.com