Ashley Furniture Lays Off 90 Employees
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Updated: 9:48 PM Feb 13, 2009
Ashley Furniture Lays Off 90 Employees
CEO says the national economy, housing market, and weak demand for furniture are behind the job cuts
Posted: 5:00 PM Feb 13, 2009
Reporter: WEAU 13 News Staff
Email Address: news@weau.com
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Another area company has announced layoffs because of the national economic downturn.

Ashley Furniture's CEO, Todd Wanek says 90 people in Arcadia will lose their jobs, which amounts to about 3 percent of its workforce. Wanek says about 3,500 people work for Ashley in Trempealeau County at plants in Arcadia and Whitehall. Wanek says the layoffs are because of the economy and housing market. He says Ashley has been cutting people's hours since Christmas, hoping to avoid a layoff. He says they will get a severance package.

Wanek added, "for the most part, we've all been working really hard to make sure that we have jobs, and I take that as my personal responsibility. You know, I don't take it lightly that we had to do this and this is something I did not want to do."

He says he doesn't expect more layoffs. Ashley has been a family-owned business for three decades.