Georgia-Pacific mill in Perry, Fla. laying off 150 workers
June 25, 2020
PERRY, Fla. (From news reports) -- Georgia-Pacific's mill in Perry will be laying off 150 employees, the company confirmed on Wednesday, citing reduced product demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Affairs Manger Scott Mixon stated that "after careful assessment of market conditions and reduced product demand, we determined the total volume we can economically produce across our mill exceeds current and short-term demand."
Mixon added that the company has decided to take "temporary down time on production lines 2 and 3 at the Foley mill effective July 2." Production on line 1 will continue.
Extended downtime on line 2 and temporary downtime on line 3 will impact approximately 150 of the company's full time employees with layoffs and some positions will be eliminated.
Currently, Georgia-Pacific has approximately 530 employees.
Mixon explained that "this was a very difficult decision to make and communicate to our employees Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. We understand the concern and anxiety it will cause in our community."
The company is working to minimize the impact to their employees by communicating directly with them or their representatives concerning the plans and impact specific to them.
Georgia-Pacific says they are planning to resume production on line 3 in the fall.
When market demand and economic conditions improve, they expect that production on line 2 will re-start and the company will be able to bring employees back to work.
Mixon says "our focus going forward is to continue to safely operate the Foley mill through this transition. By continuing to operate the mill, we are best positioned to quickly ramp production back up on other lines when demand improves."
