Slump in paper market blamed for mill closure.Mid-October n. 1. the middle part of October. Noun 1. mid-October - the middle part of October period, period of time, time period - an amount of time; "a time period of 30 years"; "hastened the period of time of his recovery"; "Picasso's blue period" to mid-November was a tough month for 87 people working with the Smurfit-Stone corrugated cor·ru·gate v. cor·ru·gat·ed, cor·ru·gat·ing, cor·ru·gates v.tr. To shape into folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves. v.intr. medium mill in Thunder Bay Thunder Bay, city (1991 pop. 113,946), SW Ont., Canada, on Thunder Bay inlet of Lake Superior. The city was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur and two adjoining townships. . On Oct. 23, workers were told SmurfitStone Container Corp. planned to close the plant as part of an overall program to deal with a declining market in the area of corrugated paper a thick, coarse paper corrugated in order to give it elasticity. It is used as a wrapping material for fragile articles, as bottles. See also: Corrugate containers. "There has been a slowing down of U.S. manufacturers shipping overseas while the number of goods being imported into North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. have increased rapidly," says Mylene Labrie, director of communications Director of Communications is a position in the private and public sectors. The Director of Communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. for Smurfit-Stone Canada. "The end result is a loss of demand in North America for corrugated paper." Production at the mill was scheduled to shut down on Nov. 14. However, a few people remained on site to go through the process of idling the mill. It is a process that is expected to take until Dec. 11, says Labrie. The shutdown shut·down n. A cessation of operations or activity, as at a factory. shutdown Noun the closing of a factory, shop, or other business Verb shut down is part of a larger rationalizing by Smurfit-Stone that includes temporarily idling one of two paper machines in its Jacksonville, Fla. containerboard con·tain·er·board n. A corrugated or solid cardboard used to make containers. mill. The company is also permanently closing two paper machines in Philadelphia and continuing to reduce the cost and asset base of its corrugated container and consumer packaging operations over the next 18 months. She says the company is willing to entertain serious offers to purchase the mill. Marvin Pupeza, national representative for the Communications, Energy and Paper-workers Union in Thunder Bay, says a private individual has expressed interest in purchasing the mill and is currently in the process of securing funds to develop a viable business plan for the venture. "Right now, our biggest concern is protecting the assets," he says. "The company is saying that they will be cutting off the heat after Dec. 11 and, by then, it gets pretty cold. You're looking at pipes freezing and there are rubber seals on equipment that, when they freeze, they crack ..." The union has asked for investigation by federal officials under the Canadian Canadian (kənā`dēən), river, 906 mi (1,458 km) long, rising in NE New Mexico. and flowing E across N Texas and central Oklahoma into the Arkansas River in E Oklahoma. Competition Act. Labrie says the company is more than willing to meet with federal officials. "We're ready and available if we're asked. We just haven't been asked," she says. "Personally, I don't think (the board) will get involved." THUNDER BAY TOP PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYERS Company # of employees Bowater (Pulp and paper mill) 1,210 Bowater (Forest Products) 345 Northen Wood (Buchanen) Forestry 280 Great West Timber (Buchanen) Forestry 200 Northern Hardwood (Buchanen) Forestry 200 Solid Wood Products Inc. (Buchanen) Forestry 62 Bombardier Transportation (Manufacturing) 850 A&P Food Stores (three locations) 661 RMH International (Teleservices) 640 Cascades Fine Paper Group (Forestry) 570 McDonalds Restaurants 445 Westfair Foods (Wholesale Grocers) 402 Wal-Mart Canada Inc. (Retail) 400 Zellers (Retail) 366 Abitibi Consolidated (Forestry) 285 Bearskin Airlines (Thunder Bay) Transportation 169 www.smurfit-stone.com www.cep.ca By ANDREW WAREING Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
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