International Paper Closing Four Plants, Eliminating 215 Jobs

A corporate merger was the reason for this mass layoff story. The Memphis Business Journal has the details:

Citing the need to eliminate overcapacity and integrate its now-combined container business, International Paper Co. is shutting down four plants across the country in the next two months.

The plants are located in Fort Smith, Ark., Santa Paula, Calif., Chicago and Solon, Ohio. The company will eliminate a total of 215 jobs, according to an International Paper statement. The plants are a combination of facilities owned by Austin, Texas-based Temple-Inland Inc. and International Paper.

The closings come months after Memphis-based International Paper (NYSE: IP) completed its $4.4 billion acquisition of Temple-Inland, which brought an additional 10,000 employees, 59 box plants, 14 building products plants and seven containerboard mills into IP’s group of 23,000 employees, 12 paper mills and more than 140 box plants on six continents.

Sounds to me like someone is trying to monopolize the paper industry.


Bonus: We don't need corporate America to do any more joining together

Mueller Copper Tube Products (Arkansas) to Lay Off 100

A factory fire cost some workers their jobs. Here is Arkansas Business.com with the details:

About 100 people in an eastern Arkansas town will lose their jobs after a copper tube company decided not to rebuild part of its plant that was destroyed by fire in September.

Wynne Mayor Bob Stacy said Thursday he received a letter from Mueller Copper Tube Products about the layoffs in the plastics division. Stacy says company officials wrote that "extensive evaluations" about the future of the plant had been conducted, and the decision was made not to rehire the workers.

He says the letter stated there were no plans to lay off other workers. Stacy says about 360 are employed there.

Mueller Copper Tube Products makes metal and plastic pipe fittings for plumbing and heating and air systems.

No doubt those "extensive evaluations" probably included a realistic assessment of whether the housing market is going to rebound anytime soon.

StarTek Closing Call Center in Jonesboro, Arkansas - 223 Jobs Lost

The economy is going so great, the fewer people need to make customer service calls...or something. Here is ktbs.com with the details:

A call center in Jonesboro has announced plans to close its doors this spring, laying off all 223 workers.

StarTek made the announcement late Monday.

A company spokeswoman tells the Jonesboro Sun that the layoffs were because of a change in work requirements, but she declined to elaborate.

I guess, "no longer having enough work to do" counts as a "change in work requirements."


Bonus: The company needs more customers like Debbie Harry