Domtar shutdown’s impact begins to hit home

The recent indefinite shutdown of the Domtar Corporation pulp mill in Baileyville created an immediate flurry of concern about the potential repercussions for Domtar's 300 employees, directly and indirectly related businesses such as loggers, truckers and longshoremen and area service providers.

Among the 90 people at the port of Eastport who are affected are some 30 truck drivers. Until the shutdown, tractor trailers were a common sight rumbling from Baileyville to Eastport. Earle Stanhope of Stanhope's Trucking LLC in Robbinston had three to four trucks working for the port. While his work with Domtar and the port of Eastport accounted for two-thirds of his business, he notes that there were more truckers influenced by the shutdown than just his business and employees. There were "typically speaking about 18 trucks on that job." Stanhope took three of his trucks off the road and had to lay-off the drivers.

"They're good people," but he explains that "right now I'm at a standstill." Some of his drivers had worked with him for over 12 years. "They were dedicated." He discusses the special nature of the truck work. "They were home every night with their families." Of the changing work environment, he says, "Everyone has a little something they can do, but not like it was." In addition, shutting down more than half of his trucking business "trickles right down to parts supply and my fuel supplier."

Real estate in the Baileyville area is not being put on the market in a measurable way, according to Billy Howard, a realtor in the area. "I'm not seeing a big influx of homes for sale," he says. "They still have to have a place to go live. They're pretty much survivors," he says of the Domtar employees. He believes that the indefinite shutdown "will probably affect about half" of those who worked at the plant because many were close to retirement age.

Howard has sharp words for the media's role in recording the Domtar shutdown and potential economic repercussions. "The media is what's killing the economy, painting a doom and gloom picture."

But André Melanson of Eastport, one of the mill's union presidents and a 22-year employee with Domtar, says, "This is a disaster for Washington County." He cites a statistic that for every one Domtar employee laid-off, there will be an additional four and one-half affected.

Boyd "Skipper" Frankland of Eastport has worked for 29 years at Domtar. While he says "it's still early yet" to know the full impact of the shutdown, "some of the trades people have moved on already. One fellow has accepted a job in New York. He's put his house up for sale." Frankland says that another two or three in the trades have found work in southern Maine and are being flown to Florida for more work. "There's work out there; it's just not here," he says.

Planning for good decisions

Making good decisions versus quick decisions about career changes is an important process that the Maine Department of Labor's CareerCenter can help with, explains Nichole Jellison, CareerCenter manager for Washington County. "These couple of weeks are a point where those affected" start taking stock of options. While retraining may be the best decision for some, she says that it will not be the best choice for all. Figuring out the best choice is very important. She notes that the center has been holding a series of workshop sessions to help workers with that decision-making process and is confident that the center will have the resources available to help.

Melanson has been to some of the CareerCenter workshops and found the experience "very informative." Jellison notes that the center's upcoming workshops focus on getting the basics taken care of first such as coping with job loss, financial planning and budgeting, securing health care, applying for unemployment, assessing skills and understanding educational and financial aid resources. The CareerCenters are located in Calais and Machias.

The CareerCenter utilizes federal funding programs. Congressman Michael Michaud has supported the 21 Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) petitions that were submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor by the Maine Department of Labor. In his letter of support he writes that this would "potentially cover 1,139 Maine laid off workers." Statistics in his letter show a total of 335 jobs lost in Baileyville at Domtar, Fulghum Fibres and Vescom Corporation, a security company that works with mills. "I request that you review these TAA applications in a timely manner to ensure that the workers receive the assistance they need to mitigate the employment instability," he wrote.

According to Jellison, the CareerCenter has seen well over 200 employees from Domtar and directly related industries. "These numbers aren't indicative of retraining. This could be for VA benefits, filing for unemployment." The center has also seen some people coming in who have been affected by the shutdown at an indirectly related industry such as services. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations "has hired two [former Domtar employees] as peer-support workers who are working with the CareerCenter," says Melanson. "They had a Rapid Response Team come up. The union itself has offered to help Domtar in any way we can," he says.

"It's going to be tough," Doug Diffin of Robbinston says of the coming summer. He and his wife, owners of Johnson's Mobil in Pembroke and Strawberry Patch in Perry, fuel and grocery service stores located on Route 1, are concerned about the long-term impact. They will not be hiring part-time summer staff, usually two or three at Johnson's and one to two at Strawberry Patch. "We most definitely are seeing a difference," he says. "We were getting eight to 10 trucks filling up every two or three days per week." He calculates that he no longer supplies 20 diesel fill-ups per week for tractor trailer drivers, "and that's not including the meals they bought," he adds. Diffin has noticed that former millworkers "aren't buying what they used to. They're being more frugal.