International Paper is ending jobs for about 1,100 workers on Georgia’s coast.
The Tennessee-based paper industry giant said today its container board mills in Savannah and Riceboro and its packaging facility in Savannah will close by the end of September.
The mills provided steady, good-paying jobs for nearly 90 years in Savannah and 60 years in Riceboro.
Liberty County Chairman Donald Lovette said local leaders knew the Riceboro plant was in trouble and worked to keep it open, but those efforts ultimately weren’t good enough.
“There were rumors floating around for some time now, I would say at least six months, first of the year,” he told reporters. “So we’re not totally shocked. We’re disappointed and we’re hurt by it.”
A company statement said the closures are part of International Paper’s “ongoing transformation.”
United Steelworkers International Vice President Luis Mendoza, who serves as National Paper Bargaining Chair for the union, said the news of the closure “came as a shock” to the union.
“We will demand to bargain over the effects with management, but it will do little to offset the impact of losing the jobs that support our families and sustain our communities,” he said.
Mendoza blamed the closures on COVID-related overcapacity in the industry.
“Even though COVID-19 is no longer a major threat, the overcapacity it contributed to creating continues damaging the industry, and our members and their communities are unjustly forced to pay the price,” Mendoza said.
Another paper mill in southwest Georgia closed earlier this summer, impacting more than 500 workers.
Savannah Riverkeeper issued a statement on its Facebook page, writing, “International Paper in Savannah announced its impending closure today. It is very unfortunate jobs will be lost, however this is a huge plus for the Savannah River. International Paper has been a very large contributor to the Dissolved Oxygen issues in the harbor. This plant needs to be remediated, not sold to start up again.”
Southeast Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter said his father worked at the Savannah mill for 33 years.
“This is the circle of life. I mean, we’re getting different manufacturing now,” he said. “We’re very fortunate on the coast that we’re busting loose. We’ve got the Hyundai plant and all kind of construction going on at the ports. So the economy is good, it’s booming. But there are certain sectors that naturally are going to be impacted.”
Carter was at an event in metro Atlanta where Vice President J.D. Vance touted the administration’s policies on U.S. manufacturing.
This article comes to Now Habersham in partnership with GPB News
