New Jobs Heading To Milan Arsenal
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MILAN, Tenn. – Hundreds of layoffs continue at Milan’s Army Ammunition Plant, but workers said there is some good news. A commercial trucking company is moving into the plant, and leaders said they hope it will bring up to 200 jobs in two years. Officials told 7 Eyewitness News the layoffs will continue until the end of this year or early next year, but this new company will hopefully offset some of those jobs. Barbara Crocker said she knows all too well what it is like to be laid off by Milan’s Army Ammunition Plant, and it is not a good feeling. “I felt like I’d lost something that I wouldn’t get back, ’cause I didn’t know where I’d go,” Crocker said. There is some hope for those laid off workers. According to arsenal officials, R & R Trucking entered into an agreement with them to establish a trucking terminal there. R & R Trucking provides transportation for government hazardous materials and commercial businesses. They expect to hire up to 200 people over the next two years. Officials said the company has already started moving in this month. They have started hiring truck drivers in the area, and plan to hire non- drivers later on. “You’ll need support personnel at some point, both on the freight side, things like forklift operators, people that work on any docking kind of operation, warehouse-type work, on up to paperwork and dispatching trucks,” said Kevin McKelvy, R and R Trucking, Inc. Milan residents told 7 Eyewitness News the new jobs are a good start, but they are not enough. “We need more jobs and we need more people to get out there and open up these factories and more people to go to work. Help these families,” said Milan resident Paula Lowry. Crocker’s advice for those workers being laid off was to keep their heads up, and hope for the best. “Maybe we can get something in here that’ll last awhile instead of leaving. We’ve had so many companies come in and leave, that it’s hard to even think about what might happen,” Crocker said.
