TARTAN TEXTILES Job-hunting help for workers

THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
Officials still hope one buyer will acquire the Belmont Avenue laundry and keep it operating.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- With its two commercial laundry plants set to close in less than two months, Tartan Textiles has hired a local human resources company to help its 250 local employees find new jobs.
Tartan spokesman Keith Grzelewski said representatives from H.R. Pros of Boardman met twice with employee groups and will be available full time to assist workers one-on-one starting next week.
Tartan employees can get help putting together r & eacute;sum & eacute;s, brushing up on interviewing skills and searching for job opportunities, he said.
H.R. personnel also will help workers fill out paperwork for unemployment compensation.
Sale of accounts: Based in Houston, Tartan sold the accounts from its commercial laundries on North Avenue and Belmont Avenue to a buying group of nine companies for $25 million.
The sale could leave as many as 325 employees jobless -- 250 are based at the Youngstown plants, and 100 others are in service centers in Cleveland; Canton; Zanesville; and Evansburg, DuBois and Erie, Pa.
Grzelewski, general manager of the local plants, said Tartan is continuing to negotiate with one member of the buying group for the possible sale of the Belmont Avenue facility.
If the sale goes through, he said, the company would likely retain as many as 80 production workers.
There's also a chance that the buyers may hire as many as 100 employees, mostly truck drivers and managers, to help handle the extra business they acquire because of the sale. Grzelewski would not identify members of the buyer group but said their operations are all within a 60-mile radius of Youngstown.
Benefits: So far, he said, workers haven't been offered a severance package but have been promised full wages and benefits for about a month after the plant closes. Employees will not be expected to report for work after March 30, but they'll be paid through April 27.
Company officials have been meeting with Teamsters Local 377 and Textile Processors Local 1, the unions representing most of the Tartan employees, to discuss severance pay and other issues, he said.