Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105

For Immediate Release: July 28, 2003

Audio Clip

Senator Harry Coates

Senator Coates Comments on Wrangler Announcement
to Cut Nearly 700 Jobs

After Wrangler Jeans announced it would be cutting nearly 700 jobs at its Seminole facility by late September, State Senator Harry Coates said the first priority must be to help take care of displaced workers and their families.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed. But now we’ve got to think about what happens next. We’ve got to take care of these workers, help identify unemployment services and education that can retrain them for new work. And we’ve got to attract new industry to Seminole County,” said Senator Coates, R-Seminole.

Senator Coates and Representative Dan Boren, D-Seminole, have been in contact with officials from Wrangler and its parent company, VF Jeanswear, in an attempt to keep the Seminole facility open. Those actions were in response to fears of another closing after Wrangler ended operations last year in Coalgate and Okemah.

The company has also closed its plant in Prague, as well as plants in Texas, Virginia and Missouri.

City officials were told today that Wrangler would lay off 663 employees in Seminole. Many of those jobs will likely be moved to facilities in Mexico, where workers will receive $4.80 a day compared to $10.25 an hour in Oklahoma.

A town hall meeting will be held tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. at Seminole State College to discuss strategies to assist the families impacted by the layoffs.

“Seminole has seen hard times before. This town has survived the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression and the devastating oil bust in the 1980s. But this is still a place people want to call home. So we’ll do what we’ve always done -- we’ll pull together and we’ll survive,” said Senator Coates.

For more information, contact:
Senate Communications Division - (405) 521-5774