4-Day Layoff at General Cable

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Meetings held throughout the day Thursday at Du Quoin's General Cable plant point to a four-day layoff of between 53 and 56 employees.

Employees tell the Du Quoin Evening Call they were told that the layoffs among the over 200 plant employees are not specific to one department and are spread throughout the plant.

Employees say General Cable had an issue with an inventory of materials shipped to them from a contractor in Indiana and that the problem is both short-lived and is being corrected. Lisa Lawson, spokeswoman for the Kentucky-based company, was not immediately available for comment, so the newspaper cannot fully confirm that account.

It is known that the men and women of General Cable's Du Quoin plant pride themselves on manufacturing the finest high performance utility cable in the world.

It was used to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9-11. It was used to rebuild the south during hurricanes and it is being used to construct energy wind farms in the upper U.S.

The notice of plant meetings hit a nerve with everyone close to the Du Quoin plant, opened in 1965 as Phelps Dodge Aluminum.

All of Perry County shares the common hope that an economic stimulus package includes rebuilding the national electrical grid and that it bodes well for Du Quoin's signature industry in the months and years ahead.