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Fred Carter is a frame-shear operator at Tru Tech Doors in Spotsylvania. The Canadian firm leased
Tru Tech Doors, a Canadian door manufacturer, has leased the space formerly known
John Careri (foreground), president and CEO |
By KELLY HANNON
Christine Minter's plans for the future crumbled last October.
As a corporate official read from a PowerPoint presentation, Minter learned that her employer, Therma-Tru, was closing the Spotsylvania factory where she'd been working to design and assemble doors for nine years.
Starting in the spring, she would be unemployed, along with 200 of her co-workers.
Minter was stunned, and a little blindsided. The factory had been busy, she said.
"I didn't know what to do," Minter said.
But Minter, 42, of Spotsylvania was back on the factory floor yesterday, giving tours for the grand opening of Tru Tech Doors USA.
Tru Tech, a Canadian doormaker, decided to buy all of Therma-Tru's equipment at the Mine Road facility.
The company's owner, John Careri, was so impressed by the work habits of the employees he observed during a site visit that he went a step further and rehired 40 of Therma-Tru's employees and decided to make Spotsylvania the base for his first U.S. operation. He hopes to hire more workers back as production increases.
"I would prefer to employ people with something to prove, and they definitely have something to prove, as opposed to trying to start with new employees and new staff," Careri said yesterday, just before a celebratory lunch for staff and guests. Production could start as soon as Monday.
Minter is grateful she was out of work for only five weeks. Some of her former co-workers are having trouble making home and car payments, she said.
"I'm excited. I am ready just to do my best. I think we all are. We want to show Tru Tech what we can do, that they won't be sorry they invested in us," Minter said.
Launched in 1998, Tru Tech produces more than 250,000 residential and industrial door products a year at three facilities in the Toronto area, and the doors are sold throughout Canada. As Therma-Tru was wrapping up operations in Spotsylvania, Careri was searching for a location to start a U.S. manufacturing center that could ship to customers along the East Coast.
Tru Tech staff visited the plant a few days before it closed to evaluate Therma-Tru's equipment. The staff called Careri and urged him to fly to Virginia and meet the employees, too.
"These people made me believe," Careri told workers yesterday.
"You've all ignited me once again, and welcome to the Tru Tech family," Careri said. A new sign was unveiled, and a Canadian flag was hung at the front door.
The first wave of 40 employees to be hired back were chosen based on seniority and experience with with the door systems Tru Tech will produce, steel doors in steel frames and wood frames. The doors can be used in light commercial or residential buildings.
Employees are working temporarily for At Once Staffing. Tru Tech does not yet carry worker's compensation insurance, and At Once does, said Ernie Hinegardner, plant manager. "We fully intend to hire everybody at full-time once we get all of our insurances in place," he said. Hinegardner was plant manager at Therma-Tru for four years, and he's been rehired for the same position at Tru Tech.
Workers have made some sacrifices. Hourly workers are returning with a 10 percent pay cut, and salaried workers have taken a pay cut, as well, Hinegardner confirmed. Workers said they are still waiting to learn more about their benefits package under Tru Tech.
But no one dwelled on that for long yesterday.
Gordon Durrette, 57, of Spotsylvania was a buyer for Therma-Tru. His last day was April 28. His first day for Tru Tech was June 28.
"Back in my old seat, my old desk, my old chair, my same office. Everything stayed the same, just like I took a month's vacation," Durrette said.
In the interim, he tried to stay busy with yard work and painting. His first day at home was difficult. "My wife was getting ready for work and I went on in and she said, 'What's wrong?' I said this is the first day of my life that I can remember that I'm not supposed to be somewhere. It's kind of a scary feeling.
"I've been working since I was 14 years old. I just didn't know what to do with myself," Durrette said.
And then he got a call from Tru Tech.
"How many other chances in life do you get for this to happen to you?" Durrette asked yesterday. "You think you're down, you're out. And to have someone want you, to call you back, we are just so thankful he bought this place and thought enough of us to bring us back."
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com
