September 4, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Approximately 130 workers at a military garment industry in Smithville lost their jobs today (Wednesday).
Two of the employees independently confirmed that the local Omega Apparel factory is shutting it’s doors, with the cutting department closing immediately and the sewing department employees offered the opportunity to stay a few days longer.
“You have a lot of upset people,” one long-time employee told WJLE. “People were just hurt.”
The closing comes just over one year after Omega was awarded a maximum $8.2 million Department of Defense contract for trousers. The contract included four one-year option periods and the dollar amount was for the life of the contract, including options.
However, one the employees who spoke to WJLE, and asked not to be identified, said the local plant was working on more than military clothing.
“We had the contract for the Navy dress blues, the women’s white slacks and the last cut of the Armed Services uniform skirt,” he said. However, the plant was also under subcontract with an east Tennessee company to produce parkas, some for the military and some commercially.
The contracts left employees wondering why the plant was shutting down. “We did not see this coming,” he said.
After one employee asked why, a company spokesman reportedly said the plant was closing due to a large previous debt too big to overcome.
“People were put in a bad situation today,” the employee said, adding no severance package was offered.
Repeated phone call requests to talk with company officials went unanswered and WJLE was not able to confirm the allegation of a large debt. Employees were reportedly told of the shut down just before noon today (Wednesday).
Omega Apparel began operation here in 1994 and later changed ownership