Weyerhaeuser to Workers-”Bah Humbug!”
Leave it to the grinches over at Weyerhaeuser to pink slip workers just before the holidays. Within the last several months, the company announced a string of mill closures stretching from Oregon to Ontario.
While national news outlets have reported total job losses resulting from the closures at between 700 and 1000, a scan of local news reports indicates that as many as 2000 may lose their jobs this holiday season.
“It’s a despicable act” said
We tend to agree.
Bah Humbug, says Weyerhaeuser. “We recognize that this news and its timing are hard on our people,” said CEO Steve Rogel “but it is essential to make these changes to improve the competitiveness and lagging financial performance of these businesses”—a chilly holiday greeting from a Scrooge that pulled in $7,486,513 compensation and another $13M in stock options in 2004.
Here’s a breakdown of those preparing for a less than happy holiday:
| Town | Mill | Jobs Lost | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dryden, ON | Dryden Paper | 120 | CBC |
| Prince Albert, SK | Prince Albert Pulp | 690 | CBC |
| Plymoth, NC | Containerboard | 200 | The Virginia Pilot |
| Bedford Heights, OH | Corrugated Packaging | 110 | The Plain Dealer |
| Elmira Heights, NY | Corrugated Packaging | 115 | Star Gazette |
| Little Rock, AR | Corrugated Packaging | 135 | AK Democrat Gazette |
| Matthews, NC | Corrugated Packaging | 85 | Charlotte Observer |
| Pulaski, TN | Sheet Feeder | ? | Memphis Business Journal |
| Waco, TX | Sheet Feeder | 60 | Waco Tribune |
| Kansas City, MO | Paper Bag | 58 | Kansas City Star |
| Aberdeen, OR | Saw Mill | 83 | The Daily World |
| Cosmopolis, OR | Pulp Mill | 245 | The Daily World |
| Wright City, OK | Plywood | 250 | The Journal Record |
| TOTAL | 2151 |
5 Responses to “Weyerhaeuser to Workers-”Bah Humbug!””
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January 19th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
315 more layoffs announced last week at two more Weyerhaeuser SK mills. Grand total: 2466 layoffs.
February 3rd, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Hi RAN people.
Sometimes I am very surprised by you!
first you want to save the rain forrests and old growth in Canada. That is great, really, that is a noble cause. However, when you go in to this pro union speech thing, it just makes me sick. Sure, it in not nice that people loose high paying jobs. but aren’t these people the ones that are involved in milling all the trees you are trying to protect from being miled? I would say, great, more trees in North America! and you know what, people more on to other jobs.
Don’t you think that it was unfair that all of those horse and buggy driver’s lost their jobs bercuase the industry couldn’t compete with motor taxies? And all you see is all those union jobs lost. what you don’t see is all the new ones that are created by the the taxi industry. Please, do us all a favor, read an Econ 101 textbook, and remove me from your mailing list.
… Thanks
February 8th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Chris, the point isn’t pro-union speechifying, it’s that the industry argument of jobs vs. the environment is a farce. Truth is, Weyerhaeuser treats workers and the environment with equal disrespect. That case needs to be made–particularly to the customers that make our market-based strategies work. Costco, Staples and other buyers view the specter of job loss as a legitimate rebuttal to our demands and need to hear a legitimate response.
This is a valuable debate. Get a conversation going, don’t just jump ship.
May 22nd, 2006 at 9:02 am
Wow! You get your way, you win. Mills are shutting down everywhere. More trees are being left in the forest to die of disease instead of being used for necessary products and jobs. You are directly responsible for this happening. Then you have the audacity to complain about how the companies are shutting down and how that is going to affect the mill workers. As if you really cared. Don’t patronize us with your hypocritical, “We care about the Union worker” baloney. As long as you can continue blackmailing revenue out of the public by misrepresenting what is really going on in the forests, you will be the happy little hypocrites you are. Don’t start trying to hide behind the veil of caring about people. All you really care about is their checkbooks and donations. If you really cared about the environment you would be an advocate for responsible logging in the good ole USA where environmental restrictions are the strictest and most enforced. Your pressure has mills shutting down here and all the wood production being moved to third world countries (rain forested countries) where they won’t be bothered by the likes of you. Good job!!! I contribute all of that “progress” to you. Then, to divert that sort of negative, true, and real attention from yourselves, you start attacking banks that try to invest in third world infrastructure. What do you stand for? What are you trying to do? Who do you benefit besides yourselves? Do you even know? Or, are the donation checks so big you just don’t care?
Scott Miller
Union, OR
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:21 am
Scott, sounds like we’re not seeing eye-to-eye. First, I’d argue that currency fluctuations and growth rates have more to do with job losses in North American forestry than we do. That, and the consolidation of the industry into multinationals more concerned with quarterly earnings than workers. We’re for a forest industry that values workers and the environment–in the US and worldwide.
Some are doing a pretty good job of doing just that. Take a look at EcoTrust (http://www.ecotrust.org/forestry/) for some innovative work to build socially and environmentally models for the forest industry being done now.