With just weeks to go before Dura Automotive closes its doors, the harsh reality of unemployment is beginning to set in for dozens of Bracebridge area residents.

Since the announcement of Dura’s closure in April, the October deadline for the plant’s shutdown has been looming for the estimated 150 employees remaining in the plant.

While many of the over 250 workers laid off from Dura over the past year and a half have found full- or part-time employment, things are expected to be more difficult for some of the more senior members of the plant’s workforce.

According to Ed Paterson, chair of the Canadian Automotive Workers (CAW) Local 61, Dura Automotive’s employees’ union, because of fluctuating work volumes, many plant workers have been laid off and called back to work again several times since April, making it difficult to secure other full-time employment.

Others that may have had employment opportunities are choosing to stay at the plant until it closes in mid- to late October in order to secure severance packages.

“Most people are trying to hang on to the end,” Paterson said. “But a lot of them are looking (for work) now that it’s getting close.”

Employees, he said, are being referred to the Bracebridge Action Centre, the employment centre established by Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to help displaced Dura workers in Bracebridge.

Diana McIntyre, chair of the Bracebridge Action Centre adjustment committee, said the centre has both a career counsellor and job developer on-site to help employees find work.

McIntyre admits, however, that for people who have been employed at the plant for upwards of 20 years, the transition is difficult.

“It’s a huge change,” McIntyre said. “People are confused and they’re afraid . . . its unknown waters that they’re charting now and people don’t know how to approach it.”

Action centre staff, she said, is helping workers identify other skills and interests they have. The job developer and career counsellor then help workers target their specific employment opportunities.

“We’re showing them that there are other options,” McIntyre said.

As many as 60 Dura workers have found employment with the help of the Action Centre over the past year, she said. Many individuals are opening small businesses, exploring apprenticeships and even going back to school.

Many have apparently kept a positive outlook, and are using the experience to grow both personally and professionally.

Jeannine Mitchell, who was laid off from Dura in November after more than 10 years at the plant, said while losing her job was hard, she was able to make the best of a difficult situation. She has since found another full-time job, she said.

“There are a lot of jobs out there; it’s just whether or not you’re willing to take them,” Mitchell said. “People just have to realize that they’re not going to be making $20 or $25 an hour.”

Dan Brooks, general manager and vice-president, said like Mitchell, many plant workers are moving on.

“It’s not all bad news,” said Brooks, praising the resolve of employees, many of whom have remained strong throughout the ordeal. “This is a first-class workforce. I can’t even express how proud I am of these people.”

Brooks also remained positive about the future of the plant. Real estate agents, he noted, have had several expressions of interest in the plant property since it was placed on the market earlier this spring.

The workforce in Bracebridge, too, should help draw new industry to the area, he said.

“We’ve trained a lot of people in the skilled trades,” Brooks said, expressing confidence about a possible new manufacturing use for the plant.

Until that time, however, remaining Dura workers will have to look elsewhere for employment security.

According to Paterson, approximately 40 more employees will be laid off Sept. 16. A further round of layoffs is scheduled for the end of October.

Production will officially cease at the plant Nov. 1, however several employees will remain on staff to work on declassifying the plant until Dec. 31, when Dura will shut its doors for good.

The plant’s closure will be a historic event for the town, which has seen the site used for automotive manufacturing purposes since the mid-1960s.

When the plant was running at capacity in early 1990s, Dura, then called Rockwell, employed upwards of 600 people.

Dura purchased the plant in 1999, two years after Rockwell spun off its auto parts division to Meritor.

Dura continued to employ hundreds of area residents over the next several years.

Trouble began brewing in 2005, however, after the plant lost a multimillion-dollar contract to the Lear Corporation, one of Dura’s main competitors and purchasers of seat adjustments parts. The loss of the contract, coupled with the phasing out of one of Dura’s largest manufacturing jobs, appeared to seal the plant’s fate.

Multiple layoffs began late that year, and continued steadily until Oct. 2006, when Dura Automotive Systems Inc., the Michigan-based automotive manufacturing company that operates Dura, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Six months later, the corporation announced it was permanently closing the Bracebridge plant. All of the local work will be outsourced to Dura plants in Gordonsville, Tennessee and Stockton, Illinois.