Furniture Plant to close its doors

By Rosa Duarte

Published: March 19, 2008

Come May, close to three hundred people will lose their jobs at a well known furniture plant in Galax.
Owners of the B.C Vaughan furniture plant announced Tuesday they will permanently be closing their doors May 20th.
In 2000 the company had five plants and employed up to 17 hundred people, B.C Vaughan is the last to close.
Plant manager Nathan Smith says “The biggest problem is foreign trade, Chinese imports caused a lot of furniture plants to close in the last five years most of it is because the folks in Washington don’t understand that the manufacturing base in our country is going to other places.”
Vaughan has been in business for almost 80 years, some workers like Roger Wiggins have been there their entire lives “Couldn’t ask for any better people to work for. They’ve always had a job for us and we’ve always been here for them too.”
U.S Representative Rick Boucher is working with Vaughan officials to submit a federal petition to the U.S Department of Labor for worker’s assistance.
Smith says the petition has been accepted through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program which will provide job outreach services, health insurance assistance and up to 52 weeks of additional unemployment insurance benefits.