Jay Garment workers rallied

Twenty-five years ago this week, local workers were fighter to keep their jobs in Jay County.

The Oct. 31, 1996, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of a rally by Jay Garment union workers at Jay County Courthouse during which they protested the planned closure of American plants.

“Jobs in Jay,” union leader Joe Costigan shouted as workers joined in. Firsts were pumped. Red ribbons were worn. Signs were raised. “Solidarity,” the song of American labor unions, was sung.

The rallies came as The Jay Garment Corporation had plans to close its plants in Portland and Clarksville, Tennessee, in response to financial losses and a shifting of production to Mexico.

“The company is closing, not closing down,” said Castigan, communications director of the Chicago and Central States Join Board that governed the Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees Local 295C. “They’re going to move. They are moving, shifting their business to Mexico.

“Not only are they having work done in Mexico, they’re having it done in the cheapest wage region in Mexico 33 cents and hour.”

He also alleged that Jay Garment had used money from its overfunded pension to offset financial losses.

Longtime Jay Garment employees Carl Hinshaw, Gary Miller and Barbara Barton shared concerns about the uncertainty of their lives if the Portland facility closed its doors.

“I’ve got less than 10 years to go and then they pull this on us,” said Miller, who had worked for Jay Garment since 1964. “They’re going to close the doors.

“We’re not going down without a fight,” said joint board business agent Bernie Pearson.

The Portland plant had already stopped making jeans, once a mainstay of production. It was producing work pants and other clothing, while production of jeans had already moved to Mexico.