WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - International Paper on Oct. 18 announced that it is stopping production at two pulp machines and permanently closing its containerboard mill in Orange, Texas.
The machines affected include the #20 machine in Riegelwood, N.C., and the #4 machine in Pensacola, Florida. Pulp Mold Food Container
According to a spokesperson with International Paper, about 200 of the approximately 650 employees in Riegelwood will be affected. A second machine at the plant will continue to operate.
The news got to Riegelwood International Paper employees this morning.
“I haven’t slept all day,” International Paper employee Kevin Powell said. “I’m affected by this decision. I went to this company to retire, so this is tough.”
Some say they were surprised.
“I don’t think we were prepared for this,” Riegelwood International Paper union president Randall Child said.
About 900 positions will be impacted throughout the company.
“Wherever possible, the company’s goal is to minimize the impact on employees by using current vacancies, retirements, normal attrition and other roles at International Paper,” the announcement states.
The mill in Orange and the machine in Riegelwood will end production by the end of the year, and the machine in Pensacola has already stopped production.
“The actions in Pensacola and Riegelwood will reduce IP’s pulp capacity by approximately 500,000 tons (300,000 tons fluff pulp and 200,000 tons southern bleached softwood). The company’s remaining pulp mill system will include eight mills with an annual production capability of 2.7MM tons,” the announcement continues.
Some employees are worried about how the machine being shut off in Riegelwood will impact the community.
“It’s going to cripple this area,” Powell said. “I mean, there’s not much in Riegelwood.”
People outside of the company are feeling impacted too, especially those in the logging industry.
“It’s going to be hard because you have a lot of smaller loggers who have been family-owned and operated for years,” Davis Timber Company employee Melanie Ashe said. “The wood will go somewhere; it will make for longer miles for those that are able to maintain and stay in business.”
The closure of the mill in Orange will reduce International Paper’s containerboard capacity by about 800,000 tons, and its remaining containerboard mill system in North America includes 17 mills with a production capability of 13MM tons annually.
“Decisions like these are extremely difficult, because of the impact on our employees, their families and the communities in which we operate,” said Chairman and CEO Mark Sutton in the announcement. “We are grateful to our employees in Orange, Riegelwood and Pensacola for their significant contributions to the company over the years. We are committed to providing severance benefits, outplacement assistance and more to help employees during this time.”
Employees at the Riegelwood mill say they don’t know what those benefits will look like yet, or who will be laid off.
“We don’t have a lot of answers yet as to how things are going to look,” Child said. “But we are going to fight as hard as we can to keep as many hourly workers in that mill as we can.”
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