Changes at work

At shift's end today, everyone was told to gather in the break room for a short meeting with the Big Boss Man (The owner of the company) When we have these meetings, speculation runs rampant, on what it is about. We have been on a hiring and pay freeze since last December. Since then, they have purchased 2 new paper machines, a wrapper and a case packer. Some folks were angry about this. A couple of us, who have been through layoffs with other companies were too dayem happy to know we still had jobs to be bothered. One of the rumors going around today was that they would be talking about a pay raise. Imagine our surprise to find out the company had just purchased a paper mill. Yep, a major, major purchase. The mill is located in North Carolina of all places. Some of our embosser machines will be shipped down there, and the employees currently running them will be moved to other areas of the plant. No permanent employees will be laid off, although we will be getting rid of 10-12 temps. We are still waiting to find out if they will lift the pay freeze. Only time will tell what happens next.