<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Baldwin Chief: Layoffs Are Temporary</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=5 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>
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<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></B><I>.c The Associated Press
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<BR>LITTLE ROCK (AP) - The head of Baldwin Piano and Organ Co. said Monday that
<BR>workers laid off at two company plants in Arkansas could be back at work this
<BR>week.
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<BR>``We expect to have some resolution of our shutdown problem within the next
<BR>few days,'' Bob Jones, chief executive officer and president of the
<BR>Ohio-based company, said in a telephone interview. ``We are working
<BR>diligently to be able to catch up the payroll from last week.''
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<BR>Based in Mason, Ohio, Baldwin is the largest piano maker in the country. It
<BR>employs about 400 people in Arkansas at plants in Trumann and Conway.
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<BR>Its hourly work force was laid off last week without pay after company
<BR>officials learned they didn't have enough money for the payroll.
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<BR>In January, Baldwin laid off 67 workers in Trumann. In May, the company filed
<BR>Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Ohio. Several workers were laid off the following
<BR>month.
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<BR>Jones also said Monday that a Baldwin plant manager gave the media inaccurate
<BR>information about Baldwin's reorganization efforts.
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<BR>He said that contrary to what Trumann plant manager Richard Austin said last
<BR>week, Baldwin is not scheduled to appear before a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
<BR>Cincinnati this week to ask for changes involving the company's primary
<BR>lender, General Electric Capital.
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<BR>Also, Jones said, Baldwin officials have not decided to reject a loan offer
<BR>made by General Electric Capital, as Austin maintained.
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<BR>Jones said Austin also was wrong when he said that the GE proposal would put
<BR>Baldwin deeper into debt and that Baldwin was interested in making GE a
<BR>secondary lender and having another company become primary lender. ``There is
<BR>no discussion with anyone about doing that,'' Jones said.
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<BR>``Obviously, GE is extremely upset and this could jeopardize our relationship
<BR>with them,'' he said.
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<BR>Correcting other statements Austin made, Jones said the company has
<BR>``substantially more orders'' than $900,000 worth and those orders were being
<BR>shipped.
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<BR>In the court case, company management will meet with unsecured creditors Aug.
<BR>22 in Ohio to discuss the reorganization plan.
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