Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 3, 1994                   TAG: 9403030046
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Medium

UNIFORM MAKER TO START LAYOFFS IN ROCKY MOUNT

Managers at Ottenheimer & Co., the Chicago company that operates the Bristol plant, confirmed that about 130 employees will be phased out of their jobs this month.

The factory, off Virginia 40 west of Rocky Mount, produces nurses' uniforms.

The start of the layoffs this week was confirmed by Bob Jones, a stockholder in the Ottenheimer company.

There was no immediate information available on how many workers would be released at any particular time.

Also, rumors that the factory might be taken over by Maid Bess Corp., a Salem apparel company, were denied by Dick Robers, that company's vice president.

"At this point, that's just not so," he said. "We might be interested in some of their employees. There's always a possibility of something, but that's not in the works right now."

Ottenheimer, a producer of uniforms for the health-care industry and some fast-food chains, said in early January it planned to shut the Rocky Mount plant.

At the time, Ottenheimer president Ken Merlau said the decision was due to uncertainty over the changing U.S. health-care system, coupled with the trend by nurses away from traditional white uniforms.

Another Ottenheimer factory, in Harrisonburg, was closed a year ago, Merlau said. He said the company should have enough demand to keep its Hillsville plant open.

Employees at the Bristol factory initially were shocked to hear about the closing.

"I've been through two divorces, and neither of my divorces have affected me this way," said Maxine Underwood, who has worked at Bristol for 10 years.

The company has offered employees personal and professional counseling and the opportunity to pursue a high-school equivalency certificate.

The closing of the factory struck at many workers' fears that Americans will lose jobs to laborers who work for low wages in other countries.

Underwood said she can't help thinking that her job loss is connected to the passage last year of the North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"I think the textile and apparel industry will all eventually go to Mexico or El Salvador," she said. "I think it's really in jeopardy."