Roanoke, AL – Demonstrators in a rural community in east Alabama are hoping to save a major employer.
Union members and others marched through Roanoke on Thursday in an effort to save Plantation Patterns, which makes wrought-iron furniture in the nearby Randolph County town of Wadley.
The plant is owned by Birmingham-based Meadowcraft Inc., which filed for bankruptcy. Demonstrators want lenders to give management more time to arrange financing to save the company.
Wadley Mayor Jim Dabbs said the furniture plant employs more than 500 of the town's 650 residents, and a shutdown would be devastating.
The Wadley plant and another one in Selma that employs 500 people could close on Friday.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)