Kaine meets with paper mill workers

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FRANKLIN, Oct 31, 2009 (Richmond Times-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- IP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine met privately yesterday with workers at the International Paper Co. plant in Isle of Wight County, pledging help for the 1,100 employees facing unemployment as the plant shuts down by next spring.

He said state officials are seeking answers about why the company is shuttering the plant and if it can be put to other uses to preserve jobs.

International Paper said last week that it would close the plant, citing the recession and excess production capacity in the paper industry.

The closure is devastating for the city of Franklin and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, which for generations have depended heavily on the mill for jobs. Isle of Wight and Franklin also will lose millions of dollars in tax revenue.

After a closed-door meeting in Franklin with local officials and representatives of the company yesterday, Kaine went to the plant and met privately with some employees before taking questions from the media.

"What [the employees] said to me was, 'We want to stay here in this community. We don't want to have to look for jobs elsewhere,'" Kaine said. "So that is going to be our goal: Focus on the workers immediately. Focus on re-use of the facility and broader economic development."

Kaine said it was a positive sign that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter, and he noted that Virginia's unemployment rate remains below the national average.

"That is something to feel good about, but it is no comfort to a community that has lost a plant. It is no comfort to an individual or a family here that has lost a job. You have husbands and wives working here in this plant that have lost both jobs."

Among the employees meeting Kaine was Carla Vaughan, a 20-year veteran of the mill who lives in neighboring Southampton County. She said her husband has worked at the plant for 30 years. With two children, they would prefer not to relocate for jobs.

"My husband and I both grew up here," she said. "This is our life."

The biggest question that mill employees have, she said, is why International Paper decided to close the plant, which employees and local and state officials have said was one of the company's most efficient. Kaine said he was told by International Paper only that "the global economy was the reason for it."

"They did not go into particular facets of this plant," he said, adding that "this plant has been a productive and profitable one."

Local officials in Franklin, Isle of Wight and Southampton have said they want to work with International Paper to market the plant to other industries. International Paper, however, has not indicated when, or if, it would sell the factory.

Kaine said the company "did not close the door on future uses of the plant."

"We obviously need to have prompt and serious discussions between state officials and local officials and workers at the plant and [International Paper] to determine if there are some potential future uses under IP," he said. "And if not, then we have got to wrestle with what future uses we might think would be appropriate so that the community doesn't have to look at all this just sitting vacant."

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Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or jblackwell@timesdispatch.com.

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