Levi Strauss leaves Blue Ridge, workers see scant jobs

BLUE RIDGE - After 43 years and (m) millions of pairs of jeans, Levi Strauss and Company formally closed its textile factory in Blue Ridge, Georgia Thursday, the first of six U.S. sewing shops the historic clothier will shut by the fall. <br> <br> A bank held a hamburger picnic for the factory&#39;s 400 workers, who collected their final check and commemorative T-shirts from the company. The final sewing tasks were completed a week ago. <br> <br> The company is moving production to contractors in other countries where workers sew denim jeans for much less than the $11.79 per hour plus overtime and benefits that the average worker earned in Blue Ridge. Some workers, most of whom won&#39;t be able to find similar jobs locally, made as much as $18 an hour. <br> <br> Sue Postell, 47, said, &#34;People have to leave. There&#39;s nothing here in Fannin County to work at. We live in a small town and I&#39;m a homebody and I don&#39;t get out and drive to town a lot. That&#39;s something I&#39;m going to have to learn to do.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Levi Strauss will contract the production work to shops in Asia and Latin America as the San Francisco-based company continues a reorganization begun three years ago, from a clothing maker to marketer. <br> <br> A 22-year veteran at the factory, Jeannene Welch, said, ``I would like to say I&#39;m not bitter, but I guess deep down you don&#39;t know what you&#39;re holding. It frustrates me that there&#39;s no one here that can change these decisions.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Levi&#39;s factories also will close this summer in San Francisco; Powell, Tennessee; and the Texas cities of Brownsville, El Paso and San Benito. Its only remaining U-S sewing operations will be at two factories in San Antonio.

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