Former Pillowtex Workers Receive Additional $475,000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Charlotte - Nearly 5,500 former Pillowtex employees are being mailed checks dated May 10^th from the Pillowtex Estate totaling $475,000 in compensation resulting from the company's bankruptcy.

The accompanying letter reads, in part:

"As part of the settlement with the unions, Pillowtex committed to make a second distribution to its union employees if: 1) there were residual funds remaining from the 2006 Distribution, and 2) general unsecured creditors of Pillowtex received distributions in excess of a negotiated amount."

"I am pleased to inform you that based on collections from various litigation matters, the recoveries to creditors will exceed the negotiated amount. In addition, there are some unclaimed funds from the first distribution available. As such, the Pillowtex Liquidating Trustee is distributing a total of $475,000 to former hourly union employees. You are entitled to your pro-rata share of these funds."

Harris Raynor, Director of the Southern Regional Joint Board of Workers United, SEIU, who was the chief negotiator for most of the Pillowtex union employees and is also the co-chair of the Unsecured Creditors Committee, said: "We are pleased that additional money is being paid to the men and women who worked so hard for so many years at Pillowtex. More broadly, our country's leaders would do well to remember the Pillowtex workers and so many others like them before entering into any trade agreements that ship good American manufacturing jobs overseas. They also should revisit the bankruptcy code that allowed this corporation to renege on the employees' accrued vacation via the bankruptcy process."

Ruth Crisco, a former Pillowtex worker from Concord, NC said: "I'm so proud that our union stood by us every step of the way in this process. Critics always say the union only cares about your dues. That could not be further from the truth. Seven years later they are still fighting for us."

Only employees who received prior distributions under the settlement with the unions and cashed their checks are entitled to this final distribution.

Background: In 2003, Pillowtex closed its doors and stopped producing the towels, bed linens, pillows, and other home furnishings they had been making for 116 years. More than 6,000 people in 11 states lost their jobs, with little or no notice or compensation.  In 2006, former Pillowtex workers received long overdue compensation to help them rebuild their lives. Pillowtex and Workers United's predecessor union agreed to a $12 million settlement, which provided former employees with 24 ½ days of pay, at an average of $2,000 per worker. The settlement money reached about 6,000 workers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Texas, and Illinois.

Workers United, SEIU is a union of 150,000 workers in the US and Canada who work in the manufacturing, distribution, laundry, food service, hospitality, gaming, apparel and textile industries. www.workers-united.org

###