WEST POINT — With Navistar’s loss of a major military contract, resulting in the loss of 275 jobs at its plant here, Clay County officials and business owners are bracing for a wave of economic consequences.
Corporate officials with the Illinois-based Navistar company earlier this month announced about 275 jobs would be cut from the company’s West Point plant, which has been operational since 2006.
The announcement came days after the company failed to secure a Pentagon contract to construct 2,244 mine-resistant, ambush protected vehicles at its facility off Eshman Avenue.
Clay County is already struggling under the weight of a 16.7 percent unemployment rate, according to May figures from the state Department of Employment Security. By comparison, Lowndes County’s rate is 10.7 percent, Oktibbeha’s is 8.2 percent and the state average is 9.6 percent.
“The layoff will definitely hurt Clay County as a whole,†said Clay County District 1 Supervisor Don Horton, whose district contains the plant. “Restaurants and businesses across the county will probably be affected because fewer people will be eating and shopping as a result of it.
“It will probably affect Royal Trucking too, because they were the ones who trucked the MRAPs out of town after Navistar built them,†Horton added. “It affects a lot of people across the county.â€
Royal Trucking Owner Billy Milican could not be reached for comment.
A few blocks away from the massive vehicle manufacturing plant, Shannon Meadows, an employee at the B Quik convenience store near the intersection of Eshman Avenue and Highway 50 in West Point, said the layoffs could have an impact on the store’s customer traffic.
“We get a lot of business from Navistar employees because we are so close to the plant,†Meadows said. “Every time there’s a layoff, there is usually a little bit of effect on our business.
“But it’s a little too early to tell what will happen this time. Layoffs seem to affect our business more in the wintertime, though,†Meadows added. “I would say about 20 or 30 percent of our entire business comes from Navistar employees. They definitely help us out a lot.â€
Though fewer people may be visiting West Point businesses, more have been visiting the Golden Triangle WIN Job Center on North Frontage Road in Columbus, according to WIN Director Billy Hamilton.
“We have seen some people who were laid off from Navistar. But we also have a new call center, so I’m sure a lot of them are using that instead of coming in,†Hamilton explained. “They are still coming to us to apply for unemployment and searching for new employment.
“I think the call center kept us from having a huge influx of people walking through the door after the layoff,†Hamilton added. “But I’m sure we will start to see more of them coming here as time goes on.â€
Although the past few weeks have brought a wave of negative news for many Navistar employees, company and county officials said they are working to return some jobs lost at the plant.
The plant will retain about 200 workers to complete a contract for 262 “Husky†tactical support vehicles for the British military, Navistar Defense spokeswoman Elissa Koc said, noting the plant “just started production†of the vehicles.
“We are continuing our business with the U.S. Army, and we are pursuing a number of different contracts with other allied forces,†Koc said. “That could bring job potential back to West Point.
“The military gives dates of when they expect to award contracts, but sometimes those get pushed back,†Koc added. “So as far as specific dates of when new contracts could come to West Point, I don’t have any information on that.â€
In an effort to help laid off workers seek new employment, crews from the East Mississippi Community College soon will be setting up a field office at the Navistar plant, Horton said.
“EMCC will step in and help out any way they can,†Horton said. “It will probably be the end of this week or next week before they actually get everything set up at the plant and get everything situated.â€
West Point is no stranger to major layoffs. In March 2007, the area was dealt a major blow when Sara Lee, formerly Bryan Foods, closed its manufacturing plant in West Point, eliminating 1,000 jobs.
“This layoff will have a big impact. It wasn’t as big as the Sara Lee layoff, but it was still pretty big,†Horton added. “But I have talked to some people with the company, and they said they would basically pursue every contract that came along.â€
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