MISSOULA – Tuesday was to be the last day of papermaking at Smurfit-Stone Container’s linerboard plant in Frenchtown, but crews were notified the date has been pushed back again due to outstanding orders.
“It’s kind of a moving target,” said Roy Houseman, union spokesman. He said it looks like the last production day will now be Thursday.
After that, work will begin to mothball the plant, which employs 417.
“Smaller and smaller groups of people will be needed as the mothballing gets done,” Houseman said, “and from our understanding, the last few groups of guys will stop working around the end of January.”
The employees will be paid through Feb. 11.
Union records say one person has worked at the mill for 51 years, 18 people for at least 40 years and 107 people have worked there for at least 30 years. Another 90 have worked at the Frenchtown mill for at least 20 years.
“These are jobs a lot of people started just out of high school,” Houseman said. “Even though some people might look like they would be close to retirement on paper, many of these people are 49 and 50 years old, and not ready for retirement.”
“Our pension levels are not high enough to sustain someone for a regular living,” he said, so many of Smurfit-Stone’s workers will be looking for new jobs.
Early next week, Montana’s unemployment insurance experts will help workers file claims and shortly thereafter, the county’s adult education program will help them with educational assessment tests.
“Once individuals have gone through our assessment and enrollment workshops, they will walk away with information on training programs that are suited to their education and interest,” said Monique Fortmann, director of Missoula County Public Schools’ Adult Education Division. “We will then schedule a time for them to meet with a case manager at the Job Service to discuss these options, which will include everything from computer training for other employment to earning a graduate degree.”
A handful of former Stimson Lumber Co. employees have offered to provide mentoring.
“We’ve gotten a number of calls from Stimson workers who know exactly what the Smurfit people will be going through and they want to help these folks walk through the process,” Fortmann said.
Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. announced on Dec. 14 that it was closing the Frenchtown plant on Dec. 31 as the company sought to cut costs and emerge from bankruptcy protection. That shutdown date was moved to Jan. 5 to fill orders and then delayed again Tuesday.