Wednesday, March 20, 2024 1:00 pm
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CANADA (From news reports) -- St. Stephen will lose 60 to 75 jobs by the end of the year because particleboard operations at the Arauco plant will be shutting down.
The announcement was made by plant manager David Moffatt.
"It was a really difficult, a really difficult announcement," he said. "This operation has been in St. Stephen for almost 60 years. And we're really tightly knitted with the community."
The Fibrex side, which produces medium-density fibreboard, will remain in operation with around 120 jobs.
Seeking voluntary departures
Moffatt said the company is offering company severance packages more broadly in an attempt to find voluntary departures.
That way, he said, some employees from the particleboard side of Arauco could be brought over to the Fibrex side.
Employees have three weeks to decide whether they want to take a voluntary severance package from the mill.
Moffatt said the mill is committed to paying employees until the end of the year regardless of when operations cease.
He said the operation was closing because of "the competitiveness of our platform here in St. Stephen and some high input costs."
The plant was older compared with other sites in North America, and costs related to wood and natural gas have made it more challenging to compete, the company said.