VENTURA : Container Factory to Close Next Month

A Ventura factory that makes plastic bottles for mustard and shampoo will close in March, eliminating 48 jobs, company officials said.

Wheaton Plastic Containers on Channel Drive will close March 17, leaving 43 factory workers and five office workers out of a job, company officials have announced.

The company is headquartered in New Jersey. Officials there did not return telephone calls Wednesday. Terry English, Wheaton’s production manager in Ventura, said the local workers knew very little about why their plant was closing, only that the company made the decision for economic reasons.

“A lot of people are still stunned,” he said.

Employees learned about the decision last week, leaving many wondering where else in the area they would find high-paying manufacturing jobs, he said.

Factory jobs at Wheaton begin at $7 an hour but many of the skilled workers there make up to $13 an hour, plus a considerable amount of overtime, he said. “There are not many factory jobs out there--at least, not that will pay them the same amount they’ve been making,” English said.

For his part, English said, he will move east to Florida, where his family lives and where he believes jobs will be more plentiful.

Ventura City Councilman Jim Monahan said he hoped to persuade the company to keep the plant open, and had asked the city manager to write Wheaton a letter asking company officials to reconsider their decision.