Dublin furniture factory to close, putting 301 out of work

DUBLIN - The Bassett Furniture plant in Dublin is scheduled to close in April, putting 301 people out of work. <br> <br> Bassett Furniture Industries -- based in Bassett, Virginia -- once employed about 400 workers in Dublin to build wooden bedroom sets. Sixty people were laid off in June 2001. <br> <br> The company will still employ 310 workers at a plant in Macon, 50 miles northwest, and another 2,100 employees at plants in Virginia and North Carolina. <br> <br> Company chief financial officer Barry Safrit says the company&#39;s trying to modernize its plants to compete with cheaper furniture imports from China. Safrit says the Dublin plant, built in 1974, would have been harder to retrofit than other plants. <br> <br> Bassett employees will have the opportunity to transfer to other locations, including the Macon plant, which should add jobs in the future. <br> <br> The company was one of Laurens County&#39;s top 10 employers, according to Dublin-Laurens County Chamber of Commerce President Willie Paulk.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/2/184021