United Furniture fires thousands of sms days before Thanksgiving
“I don’t know where it’s written or said that we can’t be the manufacturing capital of the world again,” President Biden says of his thoughts on infrastructure and jobs.
Mississippi-based United Furniture Industries laid off nearly its entire workforce before Thanksgiving.
About 2,700 workers lost their jobs Monday, according to a report by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
The company, which had become one of the largest furniture companies in the country, sent a memo via email and text message to workers late Monday night instructing them not to report to work the next morning.
In a follow-up email, United Furniture Industries said the layoffs are “expected to be permanent and all benefits will terminate immediately without delivery of COBRA.”[ads1];
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United Furniture Industries of Mississippi. (Google Maps / Google Maps)
COBRA is the federal law that allows people who lose their jobs to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance under some circumstances.
Many of those fired were asleep when the emails were sent, and some never saw them until they went to watch on Tuesday.
Truck drivers who were out making deliveries were asked to return to a United Furniture location immediately to turn in their vehicles.
A cardboard box containing a sofa made in China is seen at a store in Washington, DC, on August 15, 2019. (ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The reason for the dismissals – made by order of the company’s board – was “unforeseen business circumstances.”
However, all other details were vague and FOX Business’ requests for comment were not immediately returned.
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Layoffs also took place at United’s locations in North Carolina and California.
“It shakes the world when something like that happens. It’s just not cool,” former employee Marcus Nivens told WFMY.
An employee prepares a sofa frame for springs at the CR Laine manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. (Logan Cyrus/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The station reported that United had let go of 300 people over the summer.
According to FreightWaves, a former worker has taken legal action over the mass shooting.
United Furniture Industries is based in Okolona, Miss., and makes furniture under its brand and the Lane Home Furnishings brand.
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It bought the brand in 2017 from Heritage Home Group LLC for an undisclosed sum.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
