FRENCHTOWN – Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. says its 10-day shutdown of equipment at the plant in Frenchtown, near Missoula, will idle about 200 workers.
The shutdown scheduled to begin Monday was announced last month, but the company did not say how many people would be off the job. Spokesman Mike Mullin at the Smurfit-Stone offices in St. Louis puts the number at about 200, in addition to the 50 or so laid off in November. Mullin says more than 175 hourly and salaried employees will remain at work.
He attributes the layoffs to market conditions. Smurfit-Stone makes materials for cardboard boxes.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late January.