RUMFORD — By the end of the week, all hourly employees who were laid off during 2009 who want to return to their jobs will be back to work at NewPage Corp. And by mid-February, the No. 10 paper machine will be up and running.
Janet Hall, spokeswoman for the mill, declined to reveal the number of employees who are affected.
In January, the mill announced that about 100 hourly employees would lose their jobs due to poor market conditions. That number was never reached, however.
Matt Bean, president of Local 900, estimated that about 100 men and women would be back on the job by Friday.
Most of the returning employees will work on the No. 10 paper machine, which has been down since September, or in supporting positions for the machine. These include such jobs as work in the finishing room and the rewinder.
With the No. 10 machine coming back online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the local mill’s three paper machines will be operating full time.
Hall declined to speculate on whether the moves are an indication of an improving economy.
Click on the link to read the rest of today’s story by Eileen M. Adams in the Lewiston Sun Journal.
My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.
Letters From Away 