News of a plant closing met with shock
Riley recalls the greatest shock of his life: hearing that the White Furniture factory in Mebane was closing. While Riley remembers the news as a shock, he remembers also that the arrival of new management and a weak economy sent a clear message that the plant was at risk.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Robert Riley, February 1, 1994. Interview K-0106. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- CHRIS STEWART:
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When the Hillsborough plant was sold out is that when you moved over to
Mebane?
- ROBERT RILEY, SR.:
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Well, the Hillsborough plant wasn't totally sold out, but I
think it was in the makings. I didn't really know, but when I
was asked to go to Mebane to that packing department they had some
problems over there, so I went over in the packing department hoping to
be able to help there and to try to make things run a little smoother.
I was over there, I guess, maybe a year and a half before they decided to
phase the Hillsborough plant out. Hickory had taken over at that time,
so when they phased out the Hillsborough plant he had about twenty to
twenty-five of those employees go over to the Mebane plant. The others
were just unemployed. But as things rocked on down I think it was
October or November in 1993 when we were told that Mebane was closing.
It was a real shocker to me because I had been there so long and I
planned to retire there. We worked there and everybody stayed there
until his or her job was completed. And the way they did it they phased
out certain departments at a time. If you stayed there until your job
was completed you got a two-week severance pay. Some did and some found
other jobs and moved on. I guess that was the
biggest shock of my entire life in the president saying that
we're going to have to shut the doors.
- CHRIS STEWART:
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When did you find out?
- ROBERT RILEY, SR.:
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They gave us a sixty-day notice.
- CHRIS STEWART:
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Was it in December?
- ROBERT RILEY, SR.:
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I think it was around November or December is when they told us that in
ninety days they would start phasing men out. Actually I think the
phasing part started sometime around January--the first phase of it. I
didn't actually leave until the 15th day of April of 1993.
What happened was at that time I was driving a truck. Our furniture show
is every April, we have two shows, October and April. They were getting
ready for the April show and any furniture that they needed from the
Mebane plant to the High Point showroom they needed somebody there to be
able to bring it backwards and forwards. So I stayed with them until the
day of the show. That's the reason I stayed as long as I
did.
- CHRIS STEWART:
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Did you hear talk? Were people talking about it before you actually
heard?
- ROBERT RILEY, SR.:
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Oh, yeah, you could halfway see the handwriting on the wall.
- CHRIS STEWART:
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What were they saying?
- ROBERT RILEY, SR.:
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Well, after Hickory took over and started bringing in management from
different companies with different ideas and different opinions, and the
economy was kind of weak too. You could put it all together and you
could halfway see the handwriting on the wall. So what Hickory chose to
do was--which I guess was a smart move for Hickory--was to move a few
key pieces of furniture from the Mebane plant to the Hickory plant, and
at a certain time take the production from the Mebane plant to the
Hickory plant and made a strong base to the Hickory plant leaving the
people at the Mebane plant.
- CHRIS STEWART:
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High and dry.
- ROBERT RILEY, SR.:
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High and dry, high and dry.