News

Closed garment factory's workers still waiting for last checks

Posted October 18, 2007 11:00 pm

Gary L. Smith

Projects at the Toluca Garment Co., which shut down abruptly without giving its union workers their final paychecks last month, were transferred to an upstate New York firm to be completed by non-union workers, a labor official said this week.

The approximately 100 workers are members of Local 2573 of the textile workers' union Unite Here. They were allowed to enter the shuttered building briefly Tuesday by a bank that now controls the property to retrieve personal items left behind when the business closed Sept. 21, said local chapter President Sue Henry.

They saw material and plans for some 150 custom tailoring jobs pending at the closing had been removed by owner Michael Magliano, Henry said.

They also learned the work has been given to Adrian Jules, a non-union tailoring shop in Rochester, N.Y., she added.

Magliano explicitly told the Toluca workers the facility would have to close because he could not obtain financing even to pay them for their final days on the job, Henry said.

"The whole thing is, if he has the money to pay someone else to have (the work) done, why couldn't he pay us?" asked Henry. "We would have done it if he had paid us."

Magliano, who lives in the Cincinnati area, has not returned repeated calls from the Journal Star. A man at the Adrian Jules office in Rochester declined to comment about the Toluca projects.

Company employees have still not received their final paychecks, Henry said Wednesday. The union will try to get that money through the Illinois Department of Labor or in separate civil litigation, she said.

At least four employees also lost out on their previous paychecks, which bounced after they apparently waited a few days before cashing or depositing them, Henry said. Those were turned over to Marshall County State's Attorney Paul Bauer, who said Thursday he is looking into the issue.

About 20 employees have found other jobs, Henry estimated, and she has accepted a temporary position as a peer counselor with the AFL-CIO. But employees also have lost their health insurance, and the COBRA benefits available to laid-off workers are unaffordable for most, she added.

The property is now under the control of Alpha Community Bank, from which Magliano could not obtain further credit to keep operating, according to a statement he posted on the door. James Ghiglieri, president of the holding company that owns the bank, said Thursday that while he was not familiar with all the loan details, assumption of control by a bank is fairly routine in such situations.

"That's just what happens with an institution that's a secured lender," he said. "Unfortunately, you have to take control of the assets."

Reach Journal Star reporter Gary L. Smith at (309) 686-3041 or state@pjstar.com.

Article Categories
News