Another shock to the Northern Utah economy was announced today, according to this morning's Standard-Examiner story. La-Z-Boy, which has operated a factory in Box Elder County for the last thirty years, has suddenly decided to call it quits. The company is reportedly moving many of its Box Elder County jobs to Mexico -- where else? We incorporate Std-Ex reporter Jeff DeMoss's key paragraphs below:
TREMONTON — Officials here were shocked to learn late Wednesday that the La-Z-Boy plant that has been in town for 30 years will close this summer, leaving 630 people out of work.“My heart is broken to see them leave,” says Mayor Weeks. We're going to bet he's not lyin' about that.
“All I know is I came into the office at about a quarter to four, and I was handed a letter that said they were leaving the community,” Tremonton Mayor Max Weese said. “It just totally caught me off guard.”
La-Z-Boy Inc. said Wednesday it is closing the Utah plant as part of a companywide push to improve efficiency.
The Monroe, Mich.-based manufacturer of the famous reclining chairs is also moving sewing and cutting operations from its five other domestic facilities to a single plant in Mexico, which will eliminate another 1,050 jobs in the United States.
630 jobs lost in Tremonton; 1,050 jobs lost in the US. Tell the people of Box Elder County that the economy isn't in recession.
Sorry we can't provide a story link. The Std-Ex pay website is on the blink, for the second time today. We're still scratching our heads wondering why the Standard-Examiner continues to hide most of its news stories behind a regularly dysfunctional pay firewall. Maybe it has something to do with the failing economy.
