Jeff Webber, vice president for manufacturing for the Portand, Ore.-based timber company, said the workers face at least a nine-month indefinite layoff.
“The product the plant makes goes directly to the housing market,” Webber said. “If housing rebounds, then the product they make will be back in demand and we could start it back up.”
Tony Berget, the mayor of Libby, said he found the news disheartening, especially after the economic hits the community has experienced.
“I'm saddened by this and I feel bad for the guys working down there,” Berget said. “It is difficult and hard every time we lose a job in Lincoln County.”
Mike Woodworth, business manager for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 3038, said the workers were “shocked” and had been told they would remain open as long as they met their production goals.
He saw parallels to Stimson's actions at the Bonner sawmill, which was placed on “indefinite closure” in December and finally closed in late May.
“It's a prelude to a permanent closure, just like they've done in Bonner,” Woodworth said. “They just don't want to be in Montana. Why would they simultaneously sell the Bonner plant and buy a stud mill in Idaho?”
Last week, Stimson formally announced it would not resume operations at the Bonner sawmill and is marketing the 155-acre site for $16 million. The company is not selling its 100,000 acres of timberland in Montana.
Webber didn't directly answer a question about Stimson's commitment to Montana.
“We've been proactively closing and curtailing operations that we don't see a good future for,” he said. “But we are growing as a business and just purchased a mill in Idaho.”
The company recently purchased the former Regulus Stud Mill in St. Maries, Idaho, which employs about 100 people.
Woodworth said the union would bargain with Stimson for a severance package for the workers, many of whom are age 50 or older and have decades of experience at the plant.
He said the dislocated workers also would qualify for help under the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Act.
Todd Morgan, director of forest industry research at the University of Montana's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said many timber companies are consolidating in the interior West, including Montana, Idaho and eastern Washington.
“There's industry consolidation as people are trying to predict where the strong timber sheds will be. Northern Idaho is a high-quality growing site with a diversity of species,” he said.
Chuck Keegan, a forest products researcher at BBER, said experts are predicting a turnaround in the ailing industry in about six months to one year.
Webber said he anticipates a slow recovery in the industry, which has been buffeted by supply issues, foreign competition and a slump in the housing market.
“I think we're very close to the bottom if not at the bottom,” Webber said. “I think we'll see some recovery, but it will be slow.”
Reporter Pamela J. Podger may be reached at 523-5241 or at pamela.podger@missoulian.com.
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