Post Falls, ID furniture maker cuts 60 jobs – Economy takes toll on orders at flexcel

A Post Falls furniture manufacturer laid off 60 hourly employees Friday, another sign of a still-struggling economy.

Alison Boggs
Staff writer The Spokesman Review

"Our incoming orders started coming in slow starting the first of the year. It finally got to the point we didn’t see things changing anytime soon," said Stewart Long, general manager of flexcel, formerly named Harpers. "We had to downsize to the level of business we had."

The employees laid off were from the production work force and were earning average hourly wages of about $12.25. Long said workers were laid off based on skills, performance and length of service. He said the company would give them preferential treatment if it began rehiring, but that they would lose their seniority.

The layoff leaves the office furniture-making company with about 440 employees, 360 of whom are hourly.

Lee Wood of Post Falls, who was laid off from flexcel, spent Monday filling out job applications. "It’s not the money so much as the benefits," said Wood, 60. "It’s important to have insurance, especially when you get older."

Kathryn Tacke, state labor analyst for the Idaho Panhandle, said the layoff and the recent closure of the Louisiana Pacific mill in Bonners Ferry are signs of a sluggish economy.

"The fact that this layoff has occurred is a sign of what we’ve been seeing, which is a reopening of the wounds we thought were healing," Tacke said.

Long said flexcel is in a seasonal business that is slower in February and March, but begins to pick up after that.

"For the last several months, even going back a year or two, people are delaying decisions around capital expenditures," Long said. "We do believe the business will come back, and hopefully there will be pent-up demand."

Even with the layoff, flexcel remains the largest manufacturing company in Kootenai County. It is a subsidiary of Kimball International, headquartered in Jasper, Ind. Kimball reported a net loss of $4.6 million for the quarter that ended Dec. 31.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=042903&ID=s1342965&cat=section.business