Union Strikes Victor Plant
March 19, 2008
ST. GEORGES DE BEAUCE, Canada – Factory workers voted in favor of a strike at the Victor Innovatex plant on Mar. 8, which came as a shock to the management at Victor.
Informed sources told F&FI that the company is beginning to move contract fabric production to the 840,000-square-foot former Quaker Fabric Corp. plant in Fall River, MA, though marketing coordinator Melanie Thabet told F&FI that production is ''not moving anywhere at this point.'' According to information released by the company, all necessary measures to protect current customer business have been taken and the strike does not effect the yarn spinning division in Beauceville, the dye house in St. Victor or the weaving operations in Fall River.
Other sources told F&FI that Victor, which has been operating in several Quaker plants in Fall River for the past several months, expects to move all of its production to the larger plant by March 31. This plant is not unionized and houses 125 plus looms purchased by Victor at the Quaker bankruptcy sale late last year. The move would come at a good time since the St. Georges plant was running beyond full capacity and workers are demanding increased wages, sources said.
The new location could help Victor catch up with its backlog and also allow Victor to walk away from the unionized labor situation in the St. Georges location. The company operates mills in several Canadian locations, a service-and-warehouse facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a design studio in New York.
Victor supplies textiles to office seating and panel manufacturers as well as jobbers in North America and a complete range of seating and panel fabrics to architects and designers in Canada. Eco Intelligence® Initiatives is Victor's sustainable textiles program that utilizes recyclable polyester yarns.
The company is also attempting to resurrect the furniture fabric business previously enjoyed by Quaker Fabrics but customers were forced to replace Quaker lines by the time Victor came into the picture.
Victor was founded in 1947 as a producer of wool fabrics, and the family-owned Victor has been serving the North American contract furniture industry since 1980. Alain Duval is the president of Victor, a mill with sales in the $50 million range.
Informed sources told F&FI that the company is beginning to move contract fabric production to the 840,000-square-foot former Quaker Fabric Corp. plant in Fall River, MA, though marketing coordinator Melanie Thabet told F&FI that production is ''not moving anywhere at this point.'' According to information released by the company, all necessary measures to protect current customer business have been taken and the strike does not effect the yarn spinning division in Beauceville, the dye house in St. Victor or the weaving operations in Fall River.
Other sources told F&FI that Victor, which has been operating in several Quaker plants in Fall River for the past several months, expects to move all of its production to the larger plant by March 31. This plant is not unionized and houses 125 plus looms purchased by Victor at the Quaker bankruptcy sale late last year. The move would come at a good time since the St. Georges plant was running beyond full capacity and workers are demanding increased wages, sources said.
The new location could help Victor catch up with its backlog and also allow Victor to walk away from the unionized labor situation in the St. Georges location. The company operates mills in several Canadian locations, a service-and-warehouse facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a design studio in New York.
Victor supplies textiles to office seating and panel manufacturers as well as jobbers in North America and a complete range of seating and panel fabrics to architects and designers in Canada. Eco Intelligence® Initiatives is Victor's sustainable textiles program that utilizes recyclable polyester yarns.
The company is also attempting to resurrect the furniture fabric business previously enjoyed by Quaker Fabrics but customers were forced to replace Quaker lines by the time Victor came into the picture.
Victor was founded in 1947 as a producer of wool fabrics, and the family-owned Victor has been serving the North American contract furniture industry since 1980. Alain Duval is the president of Victor, a mill with sales in the $50 million range.
