In a tiny village on the VT Canadian border, Ethan Allen lays off 238 workers

[cali]

Really, that's it for the people of Canaan/Beecher's Falls. It's a poor place and the mill was the mainstay of employment.

Ethan Allen laying off about 260 in Beecher Falls
By WILSON RING – 1 day ago

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. is laying off 238 workers at a plant near the Canadian border, but will keep a sawmill and dimension mill operating at the site where Vermont, New Hampshire and Quebec meet.

The layoffs in Beecher Falls are a huge blow to the region that for generations has made its living from the vast stretches of forest in Vermont and New Hampshire.

There are few other immediate employment opportunities for Ethan Allen's Vermont and New Hampshire workers who will lose their jobs at the end of August.

"The plant workers as well as area residents have been on pins and needles knowing that the furniture industry has been in a real slump," said state Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, who represents Beecher Falls, a section of the town of Canaan.

<snip>

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hThAujSZvT8vM4LzGA2utYVxt8DgD991VJ5O0

Ethan Allen Layoffs Devastate Kingdom
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Sylvie and Danny Mathieu
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It's lunch time for Danny and Sylvie Mathieu. Just a short half hour break to grab a quick piece of pizza and let the dog out. But Wednesday the Mathieus learned they will soon have more time on their hands.

"People are very depressed," Sylvie Mathieu said.

Ethan Allen announced it will shut down most of the operation at its Beecher Falls furniture plant, leaving 260 workers jobless. The husband and wife each worked at Ethan Allen for 15 years.

"I used to work in the grocery store, and went to Ethan Allen to better myself," Danny Mathieu said.

"We're all in the same boat," Sylvie Mathieu said, "living paycheck to paycheck, and the economy isn't helping anything. We're all there for the insurance."

Employees come from Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, Canada and the North Country of New Hampshire. The region already has a high unemployment rate.

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http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=10597410

[ccharles000]

1. so sad

[cali]

2. thanks Charles.

This is personal for me. I'm so afraid for these folks. And we all expect the big mill in Orleans (a town about 1/2 hour south of the border) to serve up massive layoffs soon. It's also Ethan Allen.

[glowing]

3. It is sad.. But Ethan Allen furniture is expensive.. and the last thing people

do in a depression is buy expensive furniture... in fact, they aren't buying any furniture. I'm affraid that when the economy does get better, there won't be any professionals or businesses left that make quality, American products.

[cali]

4. Ethan Allen has been off shoring for years now. this far precedes

the economic downturn.

[glowing]

5. I'm sure they have, but instead of closing shop up with cheap workers,

they demolish the American jobs.

What do these people expect is going to happen when people don't have money? How much more are we all going to take? Where is our final tipping point out of complacency?

It is pathetic to watch the so-called healthcare debate, while we spend more and more on military every year. What are we protecting? Obviously, its not the American people. The American people are losing everything they've worked so hard for, played by the rules, did everything the "right way", and they've ended up just as badly off as if they never educated themselves or stayed on the straight and narrow. When will we demand what we need? I hope its not too late that we cross the tipping point and degrade into a civil war.

[Dappleganger]

6. We're buying furniture...

but only off of craigslist for pennies on the dollar. It's been a LONG time since we could afford new. People who are forced to move are selling their possessions like crazy and there are some amazing deals on good stuff out there.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. I've seen that too. More tooling than furniture for me.

[angstlessk]

8. I worked in the back office of Ethan Allen many years ago in Miramar CA

and bought all my furniture from them, because I got 50% discount. I loved their furniture and still own everything, except my son's bedroom suite which I gave him when he married. Back then they carried a very Ethan Allen line of furniture...their Custom Room Plan furniture which I absolute LOVE, they carry no more...their sectional sofa that can be configured into about 12 different ways STILL has the original coverings...they are faded of course from many years of washing etc.

I think if they had remained loyal to their original stock, as it was quite unique from any other retailer, they would have a better following, rather than compete with every top of the line furniture store out there!

[havocmom]

9. They would have a better following if American workers hadn't lost real wages for 40 years

Companies that have been doing 'cost cutting' for years are the real ruin of the economy. No matter how good a product, you aren't selling it to people without money.

[area51]

10. "We're all there for the insurance."

Kind of says it all for the lack of morality in making people's access to healthcare dependent on being employed by a business, instead of making it a basic right like police and fire protection. The 273 people who die each day due to lack of healthcare are just "collateral damage". No offense bub, but you're dead because you're not "worth" healthcare. :eyes: