Former Boise Mill Expected to Shut Down


Eugene, Oregon, USA, 01 June 2006 -- Union officials say they've been notified that Yakima Resources, the former Boise mill, will shut down within 60 days.

Company officials in Yakima and at the mill's corporate headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, were not available for comment Thursday morning.

But Western Council of Industrial Workers executive secretary Mike Pieti said he was called Thursday morning by lawyers for the mill's parent company, Frontier Resources, who told him that the Yakima plywood plant was shutting down.

About 200 work at the mill, a landmark that's operated for more than 104 years in northeast Yakima. The plywood plant is the last operating component of the sprawling mill, which produced lumber until several years ago when that operation was closed.

The plant is currently in a temporary shutdown due to a market downturn, said Sherry Scott, local representative for the Western Council of Industrial Workers.

As of Thursday morning, state Employment Security Department officials had not received notice from the company indicating it planned a large layoff.

Union officials are expected to meet Thursday afternoon to discuss plans to seek federal trade adjustment benefits for the workers who would be let go.