It’s been coming for a while, and now it’s official: Duro Textiles, LCC, located at 110 Chace Street and a long-time employer in Fall River, has laid off 100 workers.
According to Director of the Fall River Career Center Joe Viana, the former employees have been in touch with the center and are receiving services in order to help them find other employment.
“The problem is that the Duro employees are long-time textile workers and most of them are from an older generation,” Viana says. “With the textile industry moving away from the city, these former employees have little training for other jobs. While we have set many of them up with center workers and services that we provide, it will be difficult to place them into other positions.”
Difficult, but not impossible.
“I have been working with four companies who have expressed interest in hiring the laid off workers, “Viana tells FRC Media News. “My plan is to hold a fair at the Career Center with the firms who are interested in hiring some of the displaced workers and to hopefully find other companies who would like to do the same to join us.”
Viana did not know exactly why Duro laid off the workers, but believes the company is being bought out. It is possible that the new owners will want to rehire the laid off employees, but that is too soon to tell.
In addition, whether the former employees will lose their pensions as a result of the layoffs is not known at this time either. FRC Media News made several attempts to reach Mr. Peter Ricci, Vice President of Human Resources at Duro to ask this and other questions, but he has not returned phone calls as of yet.
Duro is laying off their employees because of declining sales and loss of money.