Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 6.29.16

COVER
TIMBER CUTS
Response Team Dispatched to Assist Displaced Workers Flathead Job Service and FVCC lay out strategy following lumber-mill closures
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
As soon as news broke that Weyerhae- user Co. was shuttering two of its timber mills in Columbia Falls – a move that will eliminate roughly 100 jobs – the sta at Flathead Job Service and administrators at Flathead Valley Community College began laying plans to assist the incom- ing tide of jobless mill workers.
The closures were announced June 22, just four months after Weyerhaeuser absorbed Plum Creek in an $8.44 billion deal that immediately raised the specter of consolidation and closures.
Although workers said they expected changes, they didn’t think they would be this drastic, or arrive so soon.
In addition to the 100 jobs lost in the mill closures, Weyerhaeuser is also shift- ing administrative positions to the Seat- tle headquarters, meaning the company will close its main o ce in Columbia Falls by the end of the year and an addi- tional 100 administrative and o ce jobs will disappear.
It’s a massive hit to a resilient com- munity glimmering with growth despite Columbia Falls Aluminum Company’s permanent closure.
But plans are in place to o er some assistance.
The massive workforce displacement triggered something called the Rapid Response Team of the Dislocated Worker program, a system required under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act and administered by state Department of Labor and Industry. The act requires employers who cut more than 50 employees to provide workers a minimum of 60 days notice.
In the case of the Weyerhaeuser lay- o s, some 230 jobs will be disrupted, but Tom Ray, Montana resource team leader for the timber giant, said he expects there to be room for about 130 workers to ll shifts at the Kalispell mills.
But come late summer, 100 former mill workers in the Flathead Valley will be in need of employment.
The Dislocated Worker Program helps ease their transition into other elds.
Program director Kathy Yanko said the rapid response has been triggered fol- lowing other markers of the timber indus- try’s decline, including when Tricon Tim- ber in St. Regis announced last September that it was laying o 93 employees, which accounts for more than half the workforce.
Still, the mill closures in Columbia Falls represent the biggest displacement in years, and it will be critical to have resources on hand to aid the jobless.
“The closure up in Columbia Falls is de nitely the largest this year,” Yanko said. “The rst step will be to hold group sessions at the mills so that workers know what re-employment services are
Weyerhaeuser’s Columbia Falls facilities. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
available, whether that’s help developing a resume, job-search e orts, or helping folks who need some retraining or skill upgrades in order to make a change in their occupation and career path.”
Trevor Gonser, employment specialist at Flathead Job Service, said roughly 30 of the a ected workers are over the age of 60, meaning the needs and career paths of the displaced workforce will be varied.
And while Gonser said the market for jobs is strong right now, with about 1,000 positions available throughout the Flat- head Valley, lumber mills have tradition- ally o ered some of the highest-paying jobs in the region, and most other jobs available won’t match the mills’ average pay of $22 an hour.
“Plum Creek has traditionally been positioned on the higher end of the wage scale here in the valley, but we are seeing an uptick of wages o ered in the hospi- tality eld, but they are not going to rival what these mill workers are making,” Gonser said. “There are a lot of employ- ers who need workers. The economy is doing very good. We are seeing a steady decline in the unemployment rate and a rise in wages.”
Gonser said his team would meet with mill workers on Weyerhaeuser property early next week to provide outreach and education about what options are avail- able to them.
“Our goal is to get out there and be available to these workers and hopefully help meet whatever needs they have,” he said.
Flathead Valley Community College representatives also plan to visit the mill to talk about programs that could match workers with new jobs, President Jane Karas said.
“Within minutes of receiving the noti- cation we held a meeting to develop a strategy for assembling a team to help to get these folks on track toward re-em- ployment,” Karas said.
The team is composed of advisers, recruiters, and teachers, who will visit the mill in the coming weeks to describe programs and scholarship availability.
Karas said the college has helped dis- placed workers of all demographics re-es- tablish themselves on new career arcs.
Between 2008 and 2010, after the housing bubble burst, Karas said the col- lege saw an uptick in enrollment due to displaced workers.
“We had 700 more full-time equiva- lent students than we expected, and we helped them become successful in com- pleting a degree and move on to new careers,” she said.
Workers laid o from positions in industry like timber don’t necessarily gravitate toward manual labor, either, but also take advantage of the college’s sci- ence, technology, engineering and math programs, as well as computer science.
As of July 1, the program will receive $844,776 in federal funding to help work- ers who have lost their jobs due to layo s or closures.
tscott@ atheadbeacon.com
Montana Mill Closures Since 1990
YEAR FACILITY & LOCATION EMPLOYEES*
1990 CHAMPION INTERNATIONAL-MISSOULA 188 1990 F.H. STOLTZE-DILLON 95 1991 FLATHEAD LUMBER COMPANY-POLSON 70 1991 WTD FOREST INDUSTRIES-COLUMBIA FALLS 90 1993 CHAMPION INTERNATIONAL-LIBBY 200 1994 CROWN PACIFIC-SUPERIOR 146 1994 DARBY LUMBER-DARBY 55 1994 TRICON LUMBER-DRUMMOND 50 1995 MISSOULA WHITE PINE SASH-MISSOULA 190 1996 CROWN PACIFIC-THOMPSON FALLS 120 1995 LOUISIANA PACIFIC-LIBBY 40 1997 IDAHO POLE COMPANY-BOZEMAN 10 1997 BORDER LUMBER-REXFORD 30 1997 JD LUMBER COMPANY-JUDITH GAP 60 1997 TIMBERLINE LUMBER-KALISPELL 21 1998 DARBY/STOLTZE LUMBER-DARBY 90 2000 AMERICAN TIMBER-OLNEY 160 2003 CROWDER LUMBER-LEWISTOWN 60 2003 STIMSON-LIBBY (PLYWOOD) 294 2003 LOUISIANA PACIFIC-BELGRADE 110 2003 VINSON TIMBER-TROUT CREEK 65 2005 OWENS & HURST-EUREKA 90 2007 STIMSON-BONNER (PLYWOOD) 300 2008 STIMSON-BONNER (SAWMILL) 142 2009 PLUM CREEK-KSANKA (STUDS) 83 2009 PLUM CREEK-PABLO (BOARDS) 87 2009 PLUM CREEK-EVERGREEN (STUDS) 63 2010 SMURFIT-STONE CONTAINER-FRENCHTOWN 417
2016 WEYERHAEUSER-COLUMBIA FALLS
TOTAL 2,876
* INCLUDES ONLY WORKERS AT MILLS NOT LOGGING AND ASSOCIATED SECTORS. SOURCE: MONTANA WOOD PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION
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JUNE 29, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM