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Many Therma-Tru workers will keep jobs through 2009 Date published: 11/1/2008
By KELLY HANNON The 220 employees at the Therma-Tru Corp. plant in Spotsylvania County will keep their jobs until 2009, according to a company spokeswoman. Recently, Therma-Tru announced it will close its plant on Mine Road by July 31, 2009. Therma-Tru makes residential doors and frames. It is Spotsylvania County's seventh-largest employer. But 70 temporary workers at Therma-Tru will be "affected" by the end of 2008, said Therma-Tru spokeswoman Sara Theis Alcroft, meaning those workers will lose their jobs sooner. The company will provide workers with job-search assistance, Alcroft said. Alcroft did not have details on whether the assistance would be offered internally or by an outside firm. Russell Seymour, director of economic development in Spotsylvania, said his office had been working with the company to grow its presence in the county. "It was a surprise. The company had been expanding, and I think had gone through two expansions this year," Seymour said. Therma-Tru contacted Jennifer Mihalcoe, business development and retention manager for Spotsylvania's economic development office, immediately after announcing the closure. The closure is related to the decline in the U.S. residential housing market, and the jobs are not being moved to another state or outsourced to another country, Mihalcoe said. "It's not anything to do with them going anywhere else," Mihalcoe said. Spotsylvania's economic development office is working with the Virginia Employment Commission. Together, the offices are developing a plan to assist the laid-off workers, Mihalcoe said. Possible ways to help could be holding job fairs, and matching former Therma-Tru workers with local employers who have openings, she said. "The details have not been completely hashed out at this point," Mihalcoe said. "We're kind of in the beginning stages." Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
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