The company said the Kalispell plant, along with the Columbia Falls facility, will now run two rather than three shifts. The cutback at Columbia Falls will cost an additional four jobs, the company said in a news release.
After Dec. 1, the Kalispell operation will employ 212 people, while Columbia Falls will employ 186.
More than 700 millworkers have lost their jobs since 2005, and production at various lumber mills is down
31 percent during the same period.
Plum Creek said it didn't expect any improvement in the plywood market until at least 2010.
“We will be watching the markets to see if we can resume production, but things are not looking to improve until 2010 at the best,” Plum Creek spokeswoman Kathy Budinick said Friday.
The Flathead plants produce a plywood product that is primarily used in high-grade, specialized industrial applications such as boats, recreational vehicles and other transportation industries.
“As these market segments have seen their business activities recede, demand for plywood has declined,” the company said.
Todd Morgan, director of forest industry research at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at UM, said market conditions will remain dismal through 2009 and perhaps into 2010.
That bodes poorly for the employees who are losing their jobs.
“The job market is not very good,” said Laura Gardner, supervisor at the Flathead Job Service. “We actually have the lowest number of job orders since 2002. It's just very, very tight.”
Gardner said the employees will be eligible for unemployment payments that will cover about half their wages. Ordinarily, they would receive payments for about six months, but President George W. Bush on Friday signed an extension that will give laid off workers an additional 13 weeks of pay.
“What they need to be doing now is getting their resumes in good order and working on their interview skills for that time when we do see an improvement in the job market,” said Gardner.
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com
Montana's unemployment rate rises
By the Associated Press
HELENA - Montana's unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in October, up from 4.6 percent in September but still well below the national rate, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry said Friday.
U.S. unemployment last month was 6.5 percent.
Montana is outperforming the nation, “but it is clear that the national economy is causing troubles here at home,” said Keith Kelly, the state labor commissioner.
Montana companies that recently gave notice of layoffs - job losses not reflected in the October numbers - include Stillwater Mining Co., which has a Montana work force of 1,770; and Plum Creek Timber Co., which announced 64 new layoffs in the Flathead Valley on Friday.
On Monday, Stillwater gave 60-day layoff notices to 526 workers, although actual job losses may be fewer. The platinum and palladium producer says it expects to cut costs by ending about 320 company jobs and 50 contract jobs at the East Boulder Mine and the Stillwater Mine at Nye.
On Thursday, about 40 Stillwater employees attended the first of four information sessions for those who got pink slips.
“Ultimately, it comes down to, you gotta get out there and find yourself a job,” mine worker Dan Buckley said after the meeting at which state and university officials spoke.
Buckley said he was four hours short of completing the probationary status that made him more vulnerable to a layoff. He left a good-paying construction job in Washington to return home to Montana and hire on with Stillwater, he said.
“There's other jobs out there,” Buckley said. “I'll be all right.”
Miner Jess Larson, employed by Stillwater for about four months, said he has sought work building a railroad line to the Signal Peak Energy coal mine near Roundup and was told that 168 people are ahead of him.
In the Billings Gazette, Barrick North America advertised for people to work at its Nevada gold mines and planned to conduct interviews Friday in Columbus.
In Great Falls, demand for assistance through the state Job Service is up, but fewer positions are available, job seekers and the service said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Nicole York of Fairfield said she and her husband thought they could get by on his income while she received training for eventual work as dental hygienist, “but we can't do it.” On Thursday, she checked job opportunities through the Job Service.
“There's not a lot out there, and if there is, it's not paying worth a hoot,” York said.
Barbara Hardy of the Job Service staff in Great Falls said that a month ago, employers placed about 400 job orders. “We're down to 278 right now,” Hardy said.
Nationwide, new claims for jobless benefits rose by 27,000 in one week, to 542,000, the U.S. Labor Department said. That is the highest level since 1992.
In Montana, claims increased by 268, to 2,079, for the week ending Nov. 8.
Labor Commissioner Kelly encouraged laid-off workers to use an online option in filing for unemployment benefits.
“Because this is the time of year when most seasonal employment ends and more Montanans are filing for unemployment insurance, the Claims Processing Center's phone lines are extremely busy,” Kelly said. The Web address for online filings is www.ui4u.mt.gov.
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