Thomasville to cut 220 jobs.

Thomasville Furniture Industries Inc. of Thomasville, NC, announced Nov. 10 that it will cut 200 jobs in the next two to three months as it continued to suffer under competition from imports, according to the Miami Herald.

News of the layoffs came about a week after Thomasville's parent company, Furniture Brands International, said it strongly opposed an antidumping petition filed by the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade.

In denouncing the petition, W.G. (Mickey) Holliman, chairman, president and CEO of FBI, defended his company's import program and noted FBI is actively pursuing strategies to keep its domestic workforce of 20,000 intact. "[We] are actively designing several lines of furniture configured to be manufactured only in our domestic plants, a concrete example of our intent to preserve domestic jobs," Holliman said Nov. 4. "To protect these jobs, Furniture Brands must remain competitive as a company, and our import programs--as a supplement to our strong domestic manufacturing base--are a competitive advantage for us over those who lack the resources to compete globally. A stronger Furniture Brands means greater possibility of job security for our domestic employees."

The Miami Herald said the Thomasville layoffs will affect four of the company's wood-furniture plants and nine plants that support the wood manufacturing operations. Thomasville is applying for U.S. Trade Adjustment Act benefits for its laid-off workers and will ask for assistance from the NC Employment Security Commission, the newspaper reported.