TRI-CON INDUSTRIES LEAVING CAPE ALONG WITH 200 JOBS

Tri-Con Industries Ltd. is leaving Cape Girardeau.

The manufacturer of automobile seat covers, which began operations in Cape Girardeau a dozen years ago, is moving to Mexico.

"It's an economic move," said Jane Myers, plant accountant.

The company, a U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo Seat Co., issued the mandatory 60-day notice of closure Friday, saying it will end operations here Jan. 3, 1996.

"It's unfortunate that we have to lose a company like Tri-Con," said John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. "But there are additional jobs in the area where the workers can go."

One factory in Cape Girardeau with similar labor positions is, like Tri-Con, affiliated with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textiles Workers Union and has been advertising for workers.

Tri-Con employed as many as 500 people during its peak operation here, and was employing 233 in the middle of 1994, when workers voted to be represented by the ACTWU.

The vote on June 25, 1994, was 156 to 77 in favor of ACTWU representation. It was the third try to install a union at the plant at 334 Broadview.

Workers at the plant ratified their first union contract some 10 months later, in May of this year. The new contract called for wage increases, free health insurance, bonuses, and improvements in work rules and conditions.

Last August, the plant posted a layoff roster with 145 names, but less than half that many actually were laid off, one worker said.

Tri-Con moved to Cape Girardeau in 1983, six years after Tokyo Seat of Japan was founded. The company opened in a 63,000-square-foot building and hired 274 employees.

A year later, the company was at top production, assembling more than 100,000 seat covers for the 1985 model year of Chrysler automobiles being made at the Fenton plant.

The company is a cut-and-sew operation which makes covers for auto seats. The covers are assembled here, then shipped to a Tri-Con plant in Columbia, where they are installed on seat frames, ready for installation in vehicles.

The Columbia plant had received no moving notification as of late Friday.

In 1989, the plant here expanded its operations into a building at the corner of Kingshighway and William. At that point, the company employed 500 workers, and was producing seat covers for a number of auto manufacturers, including Honda in Ohio and Mazda in Michigan.

A year later, Tri-Con's largest account, Chrysler Plant No. 1 in Fenton, announced it was closing. Although Tri-Con still provided seat covers for Chrysler plants in Michigan and Delaware, the Fenton loss was felt here.

Employment at the plant declined, and all operations were moved back to the 334 Broadview location.

Employment declined to 233 by mid-1994, and was at 210 when the union contract was ratified in May.