Robyn Miles / Daily News
Nearly 400 people will be out of work when T-Mobile closes its LaGrange facility on Wiley Road.
Nearly 400 people will be out of work when T-Mobile closes its LaGrange facility on Wiley Road.
About 174 employees are expected to leave on Aug. 18 and the rest on Nov. 1, human resources Vice President Ron Gover said in a letter to LaGrange Mayor Jeff Lukken.
T-Mobile, based in Bellevue, Wash., will provide career counseling and a “generous exit package that includes appreciable severance pay,” spokesman Graham Crow said Wednesday.
“It’s very disappointing. … It’s a real shock,” said LaGrange Development Authority Chairman Diethard Lindner.
Lindner said he and authority Vice Chairman Bobby Carmichael had visited the plant at 210 Wiley Road early this year and “they were absolutely happy with the workforce and had just added a shift.”
The plant repairs and re-manufactures cell phones.
“They had gone through Georgia Quick Start training for the new shift and were delighted with the training and all the employees,” Lindner said. “It’s a real shock to me.”
T-Mobile has been leasing the building from the authority since January 2002 with monthly payments of $61,000. The authority hopes T-Mobile will be legally obligated to continue making payments until the lease expires in April 2012, but that issue wasn’t settled in a conference call Wednesday afternoon.
Crow said the company was working with Touchstone Wireless, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, to provide repair and re-manufacturing for wireless devices “in an effort to give T-Mobile customers more product and service options.”
“Consequently, the work conducted … in LaGrange … will transition to Touchstone Wireless beginning June 16, with an anticipated completion date of November 1, 2010, at which time the LaGrange facility will close,” Crow said.
“T-Mobile recognizes the dedication of our LaGrange employees, and we will assist them through this transition. … Also, Touchstone Wireless is interested in talking with potential candidates from T-Mobile, and will participate in our job fairs and work closely with us through this transition.
“This was a very difficult decision and we carefully evaluated how the national return center fits our business. However, we feel we can offer T-Mobile customers more product and service options through the expertise of Touchstone Wireless. We thank the community of LaGrange for its support over the last seven years and for being a gracious host. And we especially thank our employees for their commitment and service to T-Mobile and to our customers.”
Development Authority Secretary Jane Fryer said she and LaGrange business development manager Ray Coulombe had been at the T-Mobile facility a couple of weeks ago and “they were just so busy talking about hiring a supervisor for the second shift.”
“They were interviewing people,” Fryer said. “We walked through the plant and they were so busy, so it came as a total surprise to both Ray and me.
“We’re extremely disappointed this happened. It’s just sad to see another industry close and people have to go out and look for another job,” she said. “I hope we can find somebody to go in the building and put those people back to work very soon.”
Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.
Wait and see.