OVER 2,100 JOBS TO BE LOST IN AREA

The final pair of Florsheim shoes will roll off the assembly line at the Cape Girardeau Florsheim Shoe Co. manufacturing facility Tuesday, marking an end to an industry that has operated here almost a century.

Florsheim Shoe Co., which once occupied a multi-level structure on North Main, will close its modern plant at the intersection of South West End Boulevard and Southern Expressway Tuesday, putting the final 200 workers there out of work.

Workers have known the past few months that the Florsheim plant was closing in late December. The exact date was announced this week.

With the announcement of the Tuesday closing comes a flicker of hope for some of the Florsheim work force.

"We're confident that we have a buyer for the plant," said a company spokesman, John Piebald, from the Chicago office. "We can't say at this time who the potential buyer is, but it could provide some jobs for the people working at Florsheim."

Meanwhile some of the original 300 workers at the plant have jobs with other Cape Girardeau businesses, many have opted to participate in education re-training program, and a few may opt for retirement.

"Thirty-three percent of the workforce ranges in age form 51 to 60," said Ken Boyar, of the Southeast Missouri Private Industry Council office in Cape Girardeau, which is working with the employees to help them find new opportunities. "Twenty-one of the workers are age 61 or over."

Some workers have already accepted on-the-job training, and "we're expecting a number of the Florsheim workforce to pursue additional education," said Boyer.

Boyer and PIC workers have been busy in 1999.

"Southeast Missouri has experienced a significant number of plant and business closings and layoffs this year," said Boyer.

The two immediate areas most affected are Cape Girardeau/Chaffee area, Sikeston area and the Farmington/Park Hill area.

"More than 2,100 workers have been dislocated in these areas," said Boyer. "Many of these are experienced workers with outstanding work records, and in most cases, long-term employees with their companies."

In the case of Florsheim, which announced in late August that it was moving the Cape Girardeau operation to India, the workers qualify for some extended benefits under a trade act concerning foreign competition.

The Southeast Missouri Private Industry Council, headquartered, at 760 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, provides services and funds to assist people in this situation throughout a 13-county area. Included throughout the area are one-stop centers, which offer access to Internet, Missouri Works, Job Bank, fax machines and copy machines. Workers qualify for such benefits as vocational-academic retraining, and services to complete resumes and sharpen job skills.

The Florsheim closing and the closing of the Huffy Bicycle Plant at Farmington, effected most workers.

Florsheim, which has employed as many as 1,000 in earlier years, was down to about 300 workers when it made its August announcement. Florsheim employed as many as 450 two years ago. Florsheim moved its operations from a seven-story factor on N. Main St., to it current location 30 years ago, in 1969.

Huffy, which had been at Farmington since 1994 employed as many 500, but was down to about 300 when it announced closing. The final Huffy bicycle manufactured in the Untied States rolled off the assembly line last week.

Huffy has been buying bicycles from plants in Mexico, China and another foreign countries over the past couple of year.

The second large plant to announce closing in the immediate area was Columbia Sportswear, which announced to its 185 employees that it was shutting down in early 2000. A number of employees have already been laid off at Chaffee. Some of them hooked on with Thorngate in Cape Girardeau.

Other 1999 closing during the year included Fleming Grocery Warehouse at Sikeston, about 250 jobs; Trimfoot Shake, about 200 jobs, at Farmington; grocery warehouse and a a sewing preparation facility at Farming, resulting in the loss of a combined total of 130 jobs; and a hospital at Pilot Knob, affecting 185 jobs. Other closings in the area, including a tool distributing company (75 jobs) at Malden, shoved the total 13-county job loss to 2,185.