Paper Mill Falls in Park Falls, Wisconsin

This article says it all. Can you remember what the Republican-controlled legislature worked on in recent months? TABOR, the death penalty, gay bashing.

Apparently policies and programs to protect Wisconsin's paper industry was not important. They did little and what they tried wasn't good enough.

In the next election remember who:

• wasted time on TABOR, depriving gays  of their rights, and a needless debate on the death penalty.
• advocated for more international trade so that Wisconsin Paper could not compete paying decent salaries with companies that pay a few dollars a day to their workers.
• failed to protect all of us, not just the mill workers and the loggers, as the entire state must deal with the economic impact of the mill closings.
• ignored the reality that for the private sector to survive, the public sector must invest in infrastructure.

Recession Hurts Wis. Paper Mill Industry

Tom Ratzlaff is mayor of a small town reeling from the closure of its more than 100-year-old paper mill. And he's among the 300 workers who lost a good-paying job _ his livelihood for nearly three decades...

...What Park Falls faces is not new among cities with strong links to an industry that has made Wisconsin the No. 1 paper producer in the United States for decades. The part-time mayor has plenty of company at the unemployment line...

New competition from foreign paper makers, a recession at the turn of the century and new technology _ such as e-mail and online advertising that have tamped down demand for traditional papers _ have hurt an overbuilt industry all over the United States, said John Mechem, a spokesman for the American Forest and Paper Association in Washington, D.C.

Wisconsin has lost more than 17,000 jobs, or 30 percent of the work force, at paper mills, pulp mills and converting operations and five mills have either closed or are in the process of closing, according to the Neenah-based Wisconsin Paper Council, an industry group representing 25 paper companies with factories in the state...

...Patrick Schillinger, president of the Wisconsin Paper Council, said more job cutting is likely, and the jobs _ some of the highest-paying manufacturing careers in Wisconsin _ are gone forever...

...The job losses, in part, occurred as a once mostly regional industry faced new competition and lower prices from paper makers in China and South America, industry experts say.

Printers can buy paper cheaper from China than walking down to a local mill, Schillinger said. For some products, prices have rolled back to 1996 levels just to compete, he said.

...The sprawling mill sits just a block off the city's main street, dominating the downtown landscape along the Flambeau River. A yard is piled with 120,000 cords of logs _ a mountain of wood waiting to be made into paper...

SMART Paper filed for bankruptcy in shutting down the mill, citing unprecedented high fuel costs and "rapid deterioration" of market conditions...

...On average, the mill's workers earned $17 an hour, and jobs just don't exist to readily absorb them, Ratzlaff said. The ripple effect of the closure hits at least 300 loggers, he said.

Gerry Ring, professor of paper science at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the only college in the state offering such a degree, said the mill's closing has more to do with outdated, less efficient paper making machines than anything else.

"What should have happened a long time ago _ at a lot more of the mills, if they wanted to keep the market _ was reinvest in modern machinery," he said. "We could make good paper on old machines far longer than we should. Eventually, the costs get to you when the latest and the greatest comes on line, and then all of a sudden, 'Oh my God. They can make in a half a second what it takes us an hour to make.'"

Ring believes that the continuing rise in energy prices will ultimately lead to a resurgence of regional paper markets for the industry as transportation costs rise.

"You are not going to make paper in China and sell it in Wisconsin ultimately. They can do it for the short run, but oil prices will change that whole picture," he said.

Comments

[kneenor]

Once again you are putting the blame in the wrong place. If you read the article it's right there - you just need to open your eyes. Outdated technology, outdated machinery that the company used longer than it should have. Maybe because Wisconsin is such a tax hell hole the company didn't want to invest anymore than necessary to make a buck!

[Michael J. Cheaney]

According to Liberals "Big Business is bad, which is why Democrats RARELY if ever, vote to lower taxes on a business.-money which could/would be used to modernize the infastructure.

So by using Liberal Logic- -theres an oxymoron- when a company cannot compete due to inefficency and close a plant, it is ALSO Big business fault. SHEEESH talk about playing both sides of the issue!!!

[Jerry Person]

The true story of the park falls paper mill. The mill had 3 paper machines 50 plus years old. The federal, state , and local government put up loans and bonds etc for them to get two new paper machines. They garanteed the mill would stay open seven years plus. right after that smart paper bought the mill. The first thing they did was fire the workers. They hired half back at less than 50% of their wage. They then took the two new paper machines to another plant. Smart paper then took the 80 year old machines from the other plant. They put them in park falls. Now park falls has older machines and will never make a profit. The taxpayer paid for the machines that smart stole. The mill had to have new machines before to make profit is what they told the taxpayer. Tommy Thompson and Butch are partners.

[dale]

Dear readers:
Yes, it's a late post...hope someone responds.
This talk of "more efficient machines." is just part of the story. The real story few people acknowledge is two fold:
1. The demand of paper products is way way down. That's not the efficiency problem at the mill. That's the demand side of pure economics. Do a search on paper mills and demand for the paper and you will see the demand has fallen as people use computer, the internet to read and communicate just as we are right now.
2. The pricing is down in foreign markets.
A fair estimate is reflected in the article. People will pass the mill in favor of cheaper prices overseas. I remember a local grocer that closed in Wisconsin. He said during snowstorms people would still walk past his store in favor of the megastore 1.5 miles away. WALK there. His milk was one dollar more expensive.