Then came word of 35 more to be laid off this month at Plum Creek Timber Co.'s fiberboard plant, also in Columbia Falls.
Unfortunately, said the manager at Kalispell's Job Service, “these are tough times. The unemployment rate is going up monthly.”
“I don't know where we'll put them,” Nelson said.
In recent years, the answer was easy. Put them on a construction crew.
“But this summer the construction boom just didn't happen,” he said, adding that “it's tough, and getting tougher.”
Last fall, Nelson's office posted more than 300 jobs open. This fall, he has about 240, and even the construction workers are looking for jobs.
The good news, it seemed, was that Plum Creek executives were promising to rehire and retrain as many displaced workers as possible, at other nearby company plants.
“We'll try to find a place for people at our other facilities,” said company spokeswoman Kathy Budinick.
Trouble is, the company has only 12 job openings, but 50 laid-off workers.
Hank Ricklefs, vice president of the company's regional manufacturing division, said more jobs could open as temporary employees are let go, making room for displaced permanent workers.
“But it's an awfully tight market,” he admitted.
The market, in fact, has been tightening for months. Last year, new housing starts fell off sharply amid an emergent national credit crisis, and by this July construction of new homes in the United States fell to the lowest level in 17 years.
That dried up demand for building products, including the studs, plywood and fiberboard that come from Plum Creek's Flathead Valley mills. Still, company stock traded at near record highs Wednesday, approaching $50 a share.
Ricklefs said many of the displaced workers likely will look outside the industry for work, rather than compete for the few Plum Creek jobs still on the table. Those people, Budinick said, will receive a severance package worth one month's pay.
Complicating workers' decisions, though, is the fact that Plum Creek's other mills also are struggling, and so do not make for stable places to land. Even in the strongest sector - the plywood plant - managers are calling for “down days,” Ricklefs said, because the market is so soft.
He said he is not confident that employees who choose to apply for jobs at other company plants won't find themselves hit by future cutbacks.
“They need to go in knowing that none of the wood products are having ideal times,” Ricklefs said, “and there's certainly some level of risk and vulnerability.”
But then again, he said, there are no guarantees anywhere in today's economy, as evidenced by Nelson's Job Service listings.
The effects have been felt up and down the employment chain, from the woods to the market. Loggers are laid off because mills are slowing because housing is slumped. And if loggers aren't logging, then truckers aren't trucking, distributors aren't distributing.
It creates, Ricklefs said, a ripple effect throughout the region's economy.
Budinick said the decision to close the finger-joint plant has been a long time coming, and is not directly related to recent upheaval on Wall Street. Instead, she said, it's a response to a long-term downturn in housing markets, which has finally affected stud suppliers.
The finger-joint mill buys up flawed building studs, cuts out the bad parts and glues the pieces together to make new boards for new construction. At full capacity, the Kalispell mill cranks out 68 million board feet per year and employs 50 people.
“But that's pedal to the metal,” Ricklefs said, and it's been months since they had this engine floored.
Back in January, “when the market started softening,” Plum Creek cut the mill from three shifts to two, he said, reducing the work force to about 32. Then, “as the downturn became more and more evident,” they cut to one shift, with just a couple dozen employees on hand.
Now, those last few are on their way out, as are the lights.
Ricklefs said Plum Creek will keep a couple of the most experienced hands on board, in the hope markets will rebound and the mill can restart.
“We thoroughly intend that this plant is back up and running at some point,” he said, “maybe for the spring market next year.”
Forecasts, however, remain gloomy through 2009, and without stronger demand “we can't justify keeping up the supply.”
“We're dealing with some really challenging markets right now,” Budinick said of her industry, “and that means making some really difficult decisions.”
The same, Nelson noted, could be said for the workers.
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MontanaGal wrote on Sep 25, 2008 9:52 AM: