One hundred jobs – going, going …


You’ll have to forgive the folks up in Burrillville if they do not consider Bank of America’s takeover of Fleet to be the biggest business story in the papers these days.



Sure, they’ve got a Fleet branch in the tiny village of Pascoag. The idea of someone losing a job there is not a pleasant one.



But for now, there is a bigger concern in Burrillville.



The town is also home to a Pliant Corp. manufacturing plant. The Illinois-based company – which makes plastic film and flexible-package products for customers like General Mills and Johnson & Johnson – has informed officials here that by the end of this month, it is shutting down the Burrillville operation on Douglas Pike.



The move is expected to leave about 100 workers without jobs.



Town Council President Wallace F. Lees was born and raised in the town. He spent 31 years on its police force before retiring as chief in 1994. He knows the town and its people. He knows this is the kind of news that causes all kinds of uncertainty for a family.



“That’s a lot of people to put out of work,” he says. “It’s a terrible blow to Burrillville.”



Lees describes Burrillville as a close-knit community. People tend to know one another – not just to extend a polite wave at the market, but to stop and talk and ask about the kids.



Burrillville is the kind of place that can get too quickly forgotten when we hear about people losing jobs. Like somehow news that a manufacturer in a small, rural community cutting jobs is expected.



Too often when a big manufacturer decides to eliminate jobs, to send them down South or overseas, we forget about what – and who – gets left behind.





Just 20 minutes from Providence



Burrillville is located in the northwest corner of Rhode Island and while it may seem much farther, it is only about 20 miles from Providence.



The town was incorporated in 1806, partly because folks were growing tired of traveling to Chepachet to conduct official business and attend town meetings. The town’s growth was fueled by a woolen textile industry.



For so many Rhode Islanders, Burrillville is known as the home of Wright’s Farm, the banquet facility off Route 102 where you can get all of the chicken, pasta, French fries and salad you can eat for a reasonable price.



Get off 102 and travel down Route 107 just a bit and you arrive in the village of Harrisville, where you will find Burrillville Town Hall. You will also find several churches, a post office, an elementary school, a public library and a funeral home.



Further down 107 is the village of Pascoag, where you will find that Fleet branch.



State Rep. Richard A. Aubin, who represents Burrillville and Glocester, has scheduled a meeting for this coming Thursday with members of our congressional delegation, state legislators and Michael McMahon, of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.



While it appears inevitable that the Pliant plant will close, Aubin is hoping to find a local company interested in purchasing the property in Burrillville and saving the jobs.



“Burrillville can ill-afford to lose any business, especially one that employs more than 100 people,” says Aubin. “The sooner we meet, the sooner we can help the people who might be losing their careers.”



Lees says the Town Council would be getting together soon to discuss the matter. It’s an important one. In addition to the 100 jobs, there is the prospect of empty space – and a serious hit to the town’s tax revenues. The Pliant facility is comprised of seven buildings, occupying 55,000 square feet of space.



The same week Burrillville was getting the news about Pliant, Bank of America was making its headlines. Word that the big bank was cutting jobs in this market spread quickly.



The response to that news was predictably volatile. Rep. Peter Kilmartin, a Pawtucket Democrat, was among many legislators expressing outrage.



He wrote a letter to Gov. Don Carcieri calling on him to play a stronger role in saving Rhode Island jobs in the wake of the banking merger.



“We must take action now to stop the bleeding of the Rhode Island economy,” he said in a press release. “Executive officers in Massachusetts and Connecticut are taking action to save jobs, while we’re just sitting back and watching former Fleet employees get fired and laid off. … A lot of people are nervous about their job situation. Come Christmas, are they still going to have a job?”



Kilmartin raises a good point and state officials need to do whatever they can to hold Bank of America accountable – to ensure that the bank is up-front with us regarding its plans for the Rhode Island work force.



But we mustn’t forget those folks in Burrillville. Because if we’re keeping score, as of now, it looks as if the Illinois-based manufacturer is whacking more jobs from the Rhode Island economy than the North Carolina-based bank.

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