At least 103 workers at a school uniform company in Southeast Portland were abruptly laid off Oct. 19, most of them represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555. Founded in Portland in 1920, Dennis Uniform eventually grew to become the largest school uniform supplier in the United States. Now it’s closing all sites across the country.
“That’s on them. There’s not really a lot we can do,” UFCW Local 555 spokesperson Miles Eshaia said. “We’re really sad to see a good union employer go.”
Laid-off workers are getting some severance pay thanks to a contract provision that was added in the last round of negotiations, Eshaia said.
Dennis Uniform previously laid off 71 workers in Portland in 2022, as it relocated its primary warehousing operations to Fort Worth, Texas. The Fort Worth location was among those the company shuttered in October, laying off 139 workers.
Employers are required to give states 60 days advance notice of mass layoffs under a federal law known as the WARN Act. But Dennis Uniform filed its layoff notice on Oct. 19, the same day the layoffs took effect. The company filed the last-minute notice under a WARN Act exception which waives the 60-day requirement if a company is seeking new capital to avoid the layoffs.
“Unfortunately, despite our material efforts to do so, we were unsuccessful in securing the necessary resources, making the layoffs unavoidable at this time,” Dennis Uniform interim CEO Lawrence Perkins wrote in the notification to the state office that responds to mass layoffs.
Nonprofit Labor’s Community Service Agency runs “rapid response sessions” when union-represented workers face mass layoffs. The sessions cover how to apply for unemployment benefits, access job-search assistance through WorkSource Oregon, and find health insurance. Sessions were offered in English, with Russian and Cantonese translators, and in Spanish, LCSA Executive Director Shammra Lacy said.
More than a third of the laid-off employees worked in cutting, sewing, and finishing garments. The layoffs also hit workers in customer service, sales, IT, human resources, and other departments.
Apparel manufacturing jobs have largely left the United States. The country lost more than 80% of apparel manufacturing jobs between 1990 and 2010.
