Tobacco Plant to Stop Production Next Month

Source from:  By Linda S. Morris TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER 02/24/2006

A tobacco plant that's been a Bibb County institution for 30 years is nearing the end of its long goodbye. The former Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., which announced in 2003 it would close, is nearly silent now. Gone is the steady hum of conveyors and cigarette-making machines, although limited production continues for now. In 18 days, on March 13, the plant will make its final cigarette. "We will be out of the cigarette business," said Tom Parent-Lew, the factory's manager. About 900 workers still are working at B&W, down from 2,100 in 2003 when the company announced plans for a merger with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. Next month, two-thirds of them will be gone. After production stops, workers at the Weaver Road facility will do some cleaning up, and by March 17, about 600 workers will leave the plant for good. The remaining 300 workers are expected to continue processing tobacco, which includes blending and adding flavors, until May or June, depending on how testing progresses, Parent-Lew said. "We'll have a month's worth of cleanup work ... then we'll turn the facility over to a third-party liquidator," he said. "So, probably by the end of July, the legacy of Brown & Williamson folks pretty much will be gone." After the B&W and RJR merger was approved in 2004, officials announced all production would be moved to North Carolina. About 500 hourly workers and about 100 salaried workers have already transferred from the Bibb County facility to North Carolina. "We made over 800 offers to get the 500 people we needed (to transfer)," said Parent-Lew, who has been with the company 28 years. "There were a significant number of folks who elected to stay here." Some of those workers are going back to school. Some are retiring. And others are starting their own businesses or finding other jobs, he said. John Anthony, director of human resources, said about 10 workers are still here who will transfer to North Carolina. "They will be going very shortly," he said. "The final transfers, except for a few people, will be in April." Anthony, a 10-year veteran of the company, is not eligible for retirement. He plans to continue investing in real estate but wants to try something different. He doesn't know what the future holds. "I've worked in manufacturing and human resources for the last 18 years," Anthony said. "This is an opportunity for me to try something different." WORKERS PLAN NEW CAREERS Wednesday, the 1.4 million-square-foot manufacturing plant was mostly quiet. Portions of some areas are completely void of equipment. In other spots, equipment sits on pallets, wrapped in blue plastic waiting to be shipped. As two men took apart a huge machine, two women wearing plastic gloves painstakingly cleaned small parts from it. Patricia Combs-Fraley, who has worked at the plant 22 years as a packer operator, will be able to retire when she leaves. She plans to go back to school this spring to work on a degree in early childhood education. "It's bittersweet," Combs-Fraley said. "The company has really been nice to us. They have given us more than any other company that has laid off (workers)." Donita Sue Cox also has worked at the plant 22 years and plans to go to school. "I want to get my B.S. in nursing," Cox said. "I got cancer in 2003. ... It's put things in perspective. I would like to work in an oncology office." Shortly after the merger was announced, the company dedicated an entire wing of offices to help workers deal with the closure, said Robbie Roberts, supply chain director. The Georgia Department of Labor continue to have people on site to work with employees in the transition. "Of course, the company tried to do its very best to help people in terms of a very good severance package," Roberts said. He has worked at the plant 30 years, and he plans to retire and join his wife who is a partner with Macon Leaders & Associates real estate firm. Anthony said people have received help writing rŽsumŽs, how to network and how to file for unemployment benefits. "I think it's been a pretty unified effort no matter which group you look at, whether it's management, the locals (union) or the department of labor, or our hourly workers stepping up to make sure we met our objectives through this closing," he said. "It's been a pretty difficult situation but pretty great results." All the production work still done at the plant is for the export business, Parent-Lew said. The majority of the cigarettes made now go to the Middle East. "Today we produce about 25 million cigarettes a day," he said. "At our peak, we were making 450 million a day, average." The process of breaking down, cleaning and packing up one "module" - a cigarette-making machine and a packing machine - and getting it to Winston-Salem takes about 18 people and about four weeks, he said. It takes four to five tractor-trailers to haul one module, said Dennis Staples, senior manager of operations. He has worked for the company 35 years, moving from Louisville, Ky., as an hourly worker in 1976. "I was here when we made the first cigarette in January of 1976," he said. Workers have dealt with the shut down fairly well, said Bryan Hite, president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Workers International Union, the largest union at the plant. "It really hasn't been evident until the last few weeks, and now you walk out there (on the plant floor) and all of sudden it hits you: This is going away," Hite said. "There are a lot of deer in the headlights out there. But most people will tell you it's been a blessing (that) they have had so much time to prepare." 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