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August 4, 2010

Luke mill work force reduction will take place by end of year

NewPage Corp. has new CEO, president

From Staff Reports Cumberland Times-News

— LUKE — The Luke mill told its employees Tuesday that the loss of 90 positions announced in late June will take place by the end of the year.  

“The last five weeks have been spent finalizing our plans and preparing for implementation of this work force reduction, which will impact 50 hourly positions and 40 salaried positions,” said Pat Moore, Luke mill manager.

“This process has been very difficult and has forced us to look at every aspect of how we operate the Luke mill. Many tough and emotional decisions had to be made involving some very good, long-term employees.”

Moore told employees that the reorganization that the Luke mill is going through is similar to what many other American paper mills have already experienced. He emphasized that while it is a painful process, many of those mills have been successful, and the Luke mill, too, can be successful.

“We will be offering assistance to the affected employees in order to make the transition as easy as possible,” Moore said. The reduction is part of NewPage Corp.’s “Return to Sustainable Profitability” initiative. “These steps are necessary in order to help the Luke mill maintain its long-term viability by remaining competitive in an intense global marketplace,” Moore said when the June announcement was made.

The Luke mill has approximately 970 employees. “Following the restructuring, our total employment will be approximately 880,” said Patsy Koontz, public relations manager, in June. The mill is offering an Early Retirement Incentive Program to salaried employees who qualify as well as severance packages and outplacement services, Koontz said.

The Luke mill has experienced manpower reductions in the past, most of which were primarily the result of equipment shutdowns, Koontz said. “The most recent manpower reduction took place in 2007 when we shut down one of our smaller paper machines and associated equipment.”

In July 2009, a four-year labor contract with United Steelworkers Local 676 production workers and mechanical maintenance trades provided a 2-percent increase in wages each year of the contract and improvement in retirement benefits, life insurance, and accident and sickness benefits each year.

About 700 of the mill’s employees are Local 676 members. Local 1653 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents 45 electrical workers at the mill. The reductions will affect about 50 union positions.

Headquartered in Miamisburg, Ohio, NewPage Corp. is the largest coated paper manufacturer in North America, based on production capacity, with $3.1 billion in net sales in 2009.

NewPage owns paper mills in Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nova Scotia, Canada. These mills have a total annual production capacity of approximately 4.4 million tons of paper, including approximately 3.2 million tons of coated paper, approximately 1.0 million tons of uncoated paper and approximately 200,000 tons of specialty paper.

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