The Huntley Farmside

              Thursday April 27,200(
Volume 40 No. 17
Your hometown newspaper
2000 Press-Republican Newspapers
Union Special lays off workers
Two of 15 lines dose, but company says it will not \)Q closing its Huntley plant
By Susan Bohme
City Editor
Union Special was forced to lay off some of its workers recently when the industrial sewing machine manufacturer's parent company, Juki
Corporation, decided to move production of two of the 15 machines made at the Huntley facility overseas.
Company President Terrance Hitpas declined to say how many employees lost their jobs April 13, but he did say that the com¬ pany is good shape and he does not see this as the beginning of a trend.
"We regret that we had to lower our employment in Huntley, but it wasn't a decision that we had any control over," he said. "We are still making machines like we always have and I feel confident that we will
continue to do that."
Strong competition in knitwear machines led' to the move. "Those are very price- sensitive markets and we just can't make them cheap enough in the United States," Hitpas said, "The loss of production is why we had these layoffs."
Both manufacturing and sup¬ port personnel were affected by the layoffs, according to Hitpas.
Union Special has been in Huntley for over 50 years. The company started production in Huntley in 1948 and within a few years had moved dll its assembly lines from Chicago to the Huntley plant.
Union Special was purchased by Juki Corporation of Tokyo, Japan in 1988. Now, Hitpas said, Union Special is essentially a manufacturing plant. "Juki han¬ dles sales and everything else," he said. -
(Celebrating 40 years
of service
H' HUNTLEY i«
The Huntley Farmside is celebrating its
40th anniversary this month. The first issue was       published April 7, 1960 by Quin "Scoop"O'Brien and it has remained in pro¬ duction ever since under four different owners.
The history of the newspaper    is chroni¬ cled in a pull-out sec¬ tion in the center of today's paper. See photos on Page 3.
Farmside-Pi
cve Bittinger
Easter Egg Hunt at Deicke Park
Four year-old Brian Shull of Huntley adds another egg to his basket at the Huntley Park District's Easter egg hunt Saturday at Deicke Park.