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Black And Decker Plant Employing 675 To Close In Fayetteville

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Company officials announced Wednesday that the Black & Decker manufacturing plant in Fayetteville will close, with nearly 700 people losing their jobs.

The plant, which employs 675 full-time workers, will start to downsize immediately with the plant fully closing by the end of 2006.

Stefanie Davis has been working at the plant for over 17 years. Like many, Davis does not know what she will do next.

"You know it might be coming, but you never know until it happens," Davis said. "You don't know."

About 250 of those jobs involved in steel operations will move to Jackson, Tenn. Motor manufacturing and aluminum die casting operations will be relocated to Reynosa, Mexico.

Gordon Rose, chairman of the Fayetteville Area Economic Development Corp., said the power tools manufacturer is the area's sixth largest private employer.

"You're not going to get another 600 jobs in next week," Rose said. "That takes a lot of recruiting and a lot of hard work."

The plan to close the plant goes back to a deal the the company made when it bought Pentair Tools Group in October 2004.

More than 300 workers were also laid off late last year. The company said then that the move was part of a restructuring plan.

The latest unemployment figures from February show Fayetteville two percent higher than the state average of around 5 percent.

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