Franklin braces for plant closure

FRANKLIN, Va. - International Paper announced Thursday it will cease operation at its Franklin plant. A total of 1,100 jobs will be lost.

International Paper explained at a news conference that sales are down 20 percent and they've been managing with down time, but the market is simply not returning. "We are simply caught up in a recession," International Paper's Franklin mill manager Jeannine Siembida explained. "It is not a reflection of its employees..... This facility will not make paper again. This is a permanent closure."

It's been a tough year for the plant. In November, 2008, the plant lost 50 jobs and in May of this year the plant lost 155 jobs.

Calling it a devastating loss is likely an understatement as the plant makes up 25 percent of the county's revenue. Thursday's news will have a tremendous economic impact on employees, local governments and schools in Isle of Wight and surrounding counties.

"This is just like a death to our family. It's something that's going to take us a long time to get over," said Isle of Wight County's Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Phillip Bradshaw.

The reality of a global recession hit the economic engine that in various forms has been a part of the Franklin community for more than a century. In the 1800s the Camp family made the lumber industry a thriving opportunity for the region. By 1937, paper became a path to jobs and prosperity. In 1999 the Union Camp Corporation merged with International Paper. Workers who have relied on the mill and it's associated plants have watched the workforce take hits in the last year with temporary shut downs, layoffs, and in the spring of 2009, the closure of the lumber mill. Now, after more than a century of serving as a key employers, all of the plants in the Franklin area will close. Eleven hundred workers will lose their jobs.

Siembida announced the phase out will begin on November 7, when one machine will shut down. She explained a 20 percent decline in demand for IP's products means a smaller workforce is needed.

Siembida says IP executives and union representative will negotiate severance packages for employees. In a few days, the Virginia Employment Commission will send a team to help workers transition to other work or training programs. Gordon Hickey, a representative with the Governor's Office, said the Virginia Employment Commission will be working with employees of the mill in the coming days. Hickey also says the Governor's Office will be setting up an Economic Crisis Strike Force to help the workers.

The tasks ahead in the next days, weeks and months hung over the conference room where Siembida made the announcement. Elected leaders sat silently listening. More than one shed quiet tears. "Our entire economy relies upon the employees and the businesses that is supported by them...they are completely dependent upon this mill," Franklin Mayor Jim Councill told WAVY.com. "My first thought was: 'The people that have families, how are they going to feed their families? How are they going to pay their mortgages.' It just breaks my heart to think of challenges that are going to be faced right now."

Southampton County Administrator, Mike Johnson said, "I don't think we can fathom the impact that closing this mill will have on our community."

An emotional Bradshaw said,"First of all, we're going to have to pray for all these families. All these workers and their families, and everybody in the community." Twenty-five percent of Isle of Wight's revenue comes directly from IP.

Bradshaw shared with WAVY.com that his concern is from the perspective of an elected leader, as well as one who has lived through loss, after working at the plant for nearly 20 years.

"I was laid off with the particle board plant last year. So I went through being unemployed for six or seven months," he explained.

Intertwined with their concern for friends and neighbors, Isle of Wight, Southampton, and Franklin leaders share responsibility for the financial survival of the localities.

"We've got to go to work. We've been working hard to bring other industries to diversify. We knew that needed to be done," Councill said. The communities have already proven an ability to endure and thrive after hardship. In the past decade, after Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the people and the plant rose from the devastation of the Blackwater River's rising banks. It's is still too soon, to see how recovery will come.

At the local Fred's Restaurant on Main Street news of the closing left a bad taste in the mouths of patrons. John Buchanan retired from the mill after more than 30 years. Now his son who followed him to International Paper is losing his job.

"I thought they would be able to work through this bad economy like the company had in the past. The 70's was a bad time when people lost some time but they didn't close the plant down," he said.

Buchanan says his son has a mortgage, a vehicle and a family to support. "When his supervisor called and gave him the news he was at