Local Factory Closing to Leave 140 Without Work, Unions Will Contest

Author: Julie Shumway

Vermonters concerned over the state's economy received more bad news last week with the announcement of SCA Tissue North America's decision to close its Brattleboro factory.
SCA Tissue North America, a Swedish-owned paper company, announced that it would close the factory in March 2003, followed by two other closings in Georgia later next year. The decision is part of a move to a single, larger plant in Alabama. Equipment from the Brattleboro factory will be moved to the new plant in Alabama, making it the first to close.
This decision will result in a loss of approximately 140 jobs in an economy already suffering from the shutting of various plants throughout the state. Unlike in other cases, however, the SCA decision has not been blamed on high electricity rates or regulation concerns, but is the result of the company's independent decision to consolidate its production process.
Severance packages are still under discussion; however, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) has already begun pressing the company to leave the machinery in the factory as an incentive to encourage new businesses to buy the plant.
Union workers have expressed shock and outrage as a result of the announcement, which they felt came with no warning and offers very little in the way of relief for the community. In their view, retaining the machinery, much of it still new, is the only way to encourage other businesses back into the factory.
The Brattleboro plant, originally owned by Irving Paper Co., was first sold to Georgia Pacific and finally to SCA Tissue in 2001, produces recycled paper products for commercial use.