Story Photos
 Roger Helgerson, 57, is one of about 50 employees who accepted an early retirement buyout at Longview Fibre, pictured in the background. Helgerson's last day as a lime kiln operator was Dec. 31. Greg Ebersole / The Daily News
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Fibre Slims Down
Sunday, January 6, 2008 5:06 AM PST
By Erik Olson
Printable version
E-mail this articleAfter 42 years on the job, Dan Lickar isn't sure what to make of his early retirement from Longview Fibre.
On one hand, it's a chance to travel, visit relatives and catch up on his grandson's baseball games in Vancouver.
On the other, it will be tough to say goodbye to the job and the people Lickar got to know as a tender on No. 5 paper machine.
"It was pretty much my life for 42 years. No matter what had gone on at home or anywhere else, I could go down there and be the same as I was the day before," the 62-year-old Longview resident said.
Today, Fibre is permanently shutting down paper machines Nos. 2 and 8, which use bleached paper to make products with color-printed finishes. Company officials announced the shutdown last fall, saying the aging machines are unprofitable. Six machines will remain running.
"It's definitely the end of an era for these machines and that product line and the employees," said Frank McShane, Fibre's chief operating officer.
No. 2 machine is one of the oldest at the mill, first starting operations in June 1928. No. 8 began running in April 1960.
McShane declined a request to allow a Daily News reporter to interview employees at the mill before the shutdown date.
With the shutdowns, the company announced plans to cut 170 hourly and 30 salaried positions by the middle of this year and another 100 jobs by 2010. Since December, about 75 employees have been laid off, and more will come as the machine operations are curtailed, McShane said.
Lickar is one of about 50 employees who accepted an early retirement buyout offer from Fibre in an attempt to offset the number of layoffs. Up to 110 employees were eligible, though McShane said he hadn't expected that many to take advantage of the offer.
To qualify for the early retirement, paper mill and logistics employees had to be at least 56 years old and have worked at the company for 15 years. For all other departments, the cutoff was 56 years old and 30 years of service.
Under the buyout package, workers get continued health insurance coverage and lump sum payments based on their years of service. Workers 62 and older get $1,000 for each year of service (that's $30,000 for someone with 30 years with the company). Workers 59 to 61 get $500 for each year of employment.
Roger Helgerson, 57, took the buyout, leaving his job as a pulp mill lime kiln operator after 34 years at Fibre. Helgerson, a Longview resident, will start receiving his pension early, but he plans to find a part-time job until Social Security kicks in at age 62.
His last goodbyes to co-workers were emotional, Helgerson said. When his wife died last year, many of those people were at the hospital in support, and Helgerson said he knows he won't see many of them very often now.
Still, the change is good, and Helgerson is looking forward to the freedom of retired life.
"It was kind of sad, but it was a lot more happy than sad," he said.
Longview husband and wife Michael and Valorie Stephens, ages 61 and 57, both took the early buyout after more than 30 years each at Fibre.
Valorie Stephens, who drove a front-end loader, said the deal was good for the couple, who now plan to spend more time with their seven grandchildren. She said her back problems have made work difficult, so retirement is a good option.
While the early retirees can take a pension and benefits into the next phase of their lives, workers who have or will be laid off face a more uncertain future.
The Fibre employees' union, the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153, held two meetings last week for workers to learn about retraining from WorkSource and Lower Columbia College, said Roger Fisher, union president. Another meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, he said.
Not surprisingly, the mood had been dark over the last few weeks as layoffs have been announced and early retirees have left.
"It's somber, I would say," McShane said.
"Real gloomy. All the younger guys, of course, are worried about their jobs," Valorie Stephens added.
Fibre officials studied all the machines to determine which were the best to shut down to keep the business profitable, McShane said. While making no guarantees, McShane said he thinks the six remaining machines will remain operational for some time.
"The ones we continue to run are the ones we believe are the right ones to run," McShane said.
Before it was sold to a Toronto-based firm earlier this year, Fibre's pulp and paper operations frequently lost millions of dollars each quarter. The planned job reductions, which affect about a quarter of the mill's work force, are an attempt to make the pulp and paper operations profitable again.
After 80 years of local ownership by the Wollenberg family, Fibre's manufacturing plants and timberlands were sold in April to the Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management for $2.15 billion.
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