Clearwater Paper to lay off 290 employees with closure of Wisconsin facility


NEENAH, Wis. (From news reports) - Clearwater Paper announced it's closing the Neenah mill that employs almost 300 people as the company takes a new direction.

Clearwater Paper Company announced Tuesday it's exiting the away from home tissue business by the end of July. The Neenah mill, which it acquired in 2010, is part of Clearwater's consumer products division. It has three tissue machines and ten converting lines and makes tissue products for grocery and drug stores and commercial customers.

"Despite the best efforts of our dedicated employees, our Neenah location and assets cannot cost-effectively compete in the markets that we serve," president/CEO Arsen Kitch wrote in the announcement. "we are committed to supporting our people through this challenging time."

In the announcement, Clearwater said it's meeting with the union this week. Clearwater said it'll provide career assistance and work with the union and state employment -- that would be the Department of Workforce Development -- so workers receive training and other benefits to find other jobs.

In 2016, Clearwater laid off 85 Neenah employees as it shut down two of its highest-cost tissue machines. At the same time, it announced it was closing a plant in Oklahoma City that converted parent rolls of tissue into packaged products.

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