There is mixed news out of Pendleton Woolen Mills. Its Washougal operations will have more employees, but the company overall is laying off people, there are wage reductions, and there are job losses at its Pendleton, OR, operations. The big reason (and lingering problem) is our slow economy.
Pendleton is one of the Association of Washington Business' oldest members. Charlie Bishop, a family member who runs the Washougal mill, has been an AWB Board member and in 2004, AWB commissioned Pendleton to weave its 100th Anniversary commemorative blanket. It was designed by AWB Sr. Vice President Debra Brown and it is from the pattern of the company's famed national park series.
Here is the story from The Columbian:
Pendleton Woolen Mills, which operates a mill employing 182 in Washougal, is reorganizing its production profile and cutting its work force in the face of continued weak markets.
The Portland-based company, famed for its colorful woven blankets, rich woolen fabrics and clothing, is cutting costs, laying off 43 workers and moving its yarn-making operation from Pendleton, Ore. to Washougal, company officials said.
Many of the permanent layoffs will come at the 100-year-old company's mill in Pendleton. The company also announced pay cuts for all employees earning more than $50,000 a year, although it did not say how large the cuts would be.
The company employs 900 people nationwide, most of them in Washington and Oregon.
"The prolonged decline in consumer spending has affected all of our channels, including retail, catalog and wholesale," President Mort Bishop III told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "As a result of that, we are forced to look at reducing expenses, streamlining our organization and eliminating redundancies and duplication."
Woolen mills have practically vanished across the United States, but Pendleton has managed to survive. It has crafted commemorative blankets for national parks, furnished blankets for athletes in the Olympics and given one to every president since Warren Harding.
On this 4th of July, President Obama and Congress need to FIX THE ECONOMY FIRST. Manufacturers like Pendleton are the back bone of America. Without business and working families, there is No American Economy or taxes to pay for all of this new federal spending.
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)
