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Georgia-Pacific to lay off 40 employees, cut back hours
By Justin Averette Published 3:54pm Monday, June 4, 2012Georgia-Pacific will lay off 40 employees and cut back hours of operation at its Thorsby plant.
The company announced the changes to employees on Monday, said company spokesman Eric Abercrombie.
The engineered lumber facility will go from four shifts to two and lose 40 hourly employees.
Abercrombie said the cuts are in no way reflective of the work employees were doing but were necessary given the sluggish economy and housing market.
“We are still operating. We have just dialed back because of the current economic conditions,” Abercrombie said.
The company will still employ approximately 180 people, in hourly and salaried positions.
The laid-off employees will be kept on a list for 12 months and rehired if any positions become open, Abercrombie said.
Georgia-Pacific bought the Thorsby mill from International Paper Co. in 2006.
And to add to my post from yesterday, the statement I made about new hires has been confirmed to be true. After speaking with several friends who were employed at georgia pacific and let go yesterday, they have said several employees that have been there less than ninety days were allowed to stay, while veteran employees were let go. If this isn’t an act of total unfairness, then I don’t know what is. One friend even e-mailed plant manager and got a call back from him. When asked what was the deciding factors on who goes and who stays, he stated that STLs and work performance over the prior six months was the deciding factor. How can an employee that hasn’t even been there for six months have an STL, much less be able to be judged on work performance? Furthermore, did these “very educated big dogs” not foresee any downfall happening? If so, why continue hiring new people, only to lay off long time employees who have been loyal to this company through thick and thin?
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Collective bargaining anyone?
Employees are losing more and more rights and pay is stagnant. Plan for more of that as Republicans take over our government with their big money super pacs. We the people who work for a living will be slaves. Go ahead Folks, keep voting Republican – just like Fox News tells you. Start looking for that second and even third job. (Just like Hannity tell ya) Who needs a day off? Only the privileged few get vacations. Just work and work and work and be greatful to your master(s) that you have a job.
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Newsflash genius…who do you think’s been in the top spot for the last 4 years? Push your propaganda elsewhere…
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Top spot? Propaganda?
That doesn’t matter when there is a party of obstruction that only wants power and could care less about we the people!
GOP: Obstruct and blame the President, obstruct and blame the President…☺
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As a former GP employee, it is highly doubtful in my mind that the downfall of this plant is a reprocussion of the poor economy. I believe it is directly related to the mismanagement of plant manager, Tom Booker and his fellow management team! Furthermore, in my experience with the layoff of hourly employees, several people are layed off, forced to take lower paying jobs, then replaced with entry level new recruits. Also, why are only hourly employees being layed off? Why not a few of the sixty plus salaried employees? My opinion is that the plant should be reconstructed from the top down, rather than starting with the hourly employees. Maybe then the plant can continue thriving in the present economy.
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