FEWER WORKERS WILL LOSE JOBS AT CHARLESTON PLANT

CHARLESTON -- While officials in Charleston and nearby East Prairie are dreading the planned Nov. 6 closing of the Brown Shoe Company, they are also working to attract other businesses to employ hundreds of displaced workers.

And though fewer workers will lose their jobs at the plant than had originally been anticipated, the partial closing of the town's largest employer will still deal a tremendous blow to the area, officials said.

"Everyone is concerned," said Brian Donovan, Charleston City Manager. "We feel fortunate that there are some jobs now being saved, but it is causing people to want to start working on a stronger economic development plan."

Brown Shoe Company announced plans in late August to close their facilities in Charleston, Bernie, Caruthersville and Fredericktown, terminating as many as 1,400 jobs. The closings happen over a 14-day period beginning Nov. 6.

Plans for the Charleston facility now call for only the closing of the manufacturing plant, said Brown Shoe spokesperson Mary Sylvia Siverts.

The supply facility and central cutting plant at Charleston will not close, Siverts said, saving 150 to 200 jobs. But in all, the closing of the manufacturing plant will mean 200 to 300 workers will lose their jobs.

Donovan said he and other city and county officials are worried that the loss of jobs will mean an exodus of residents to other towns or other regions in their search for employment.

"People need to work, and if they can't find it here, eventually they will have to move on," he said.

Donovan, along with officials from East Prairie and the county's industrial development authority, have formed a county-wide task force to look into ways to attract other businesses to Mississippi County.

The group will study the strengths of the area's work force and determine what industries could benefit from locating in the county and employing its workers.

He said the group will seek a federal grant to cover the costs associated with trying to lure businesses to the county.

"This has as much impact on East Prairie as is did on Charleston," Donovan said. "It's devastating to the whole county."

Donovan said the unemployment rate in the county before the announcement of the Brown Shoe closing was 10.5 percent.

"Where are these people going to be absorbed?" he said. "People may try to commute to Sikeston, New Madrid or even Cape Girardeau, but the economy is slow all over. There's not a lot of hiring going on right now."

Donovan said residents are still trying to determine how severely the loss of jobs will affect other area businesses.

And many workers at the company are still not sure whether their jobs will be one of the hundreds slated to be terminated, Donovan said.

"There is still some bumping around, so they are still determining who's going to stay and who's going to lose their jobs," he said. "We're still trying to work on what it's all going to mean."

Officials at the Charleston plant referred calls to the company's St. Louis headquarters.

The company said in August the closing were part of a restructuring plan to bring manufacturing capacity in line with a continued drop in sales. Company officials blamed foreign imports for the demise of domestic shoe sales.