MISSOULA – Smurfit-Stone Container has delayed the closure of its Frenchtown plant by a few days to meet an immediate demand for linerboard orders.
Smurfit-Stone announced in mid-December that it was closing the Frenchtown plant on Dec. 31, cutting 417 jobs, due to a reduced demand for cardboard used to ship manufactured goods. But the company on Monday extended that deadline to Jan. 5 to fill some must-have orders, a union official said.
Union leader Roy Houseman says it’s bittersweet that two weeks after the company announced the plant closure, workers were told they needed to stay because their plant could fill the order.
Houseman says workers will get paid through Feb. 11 to comply with a federal law that requires 60 days notice of a plant closure or mass layoff.