AUGUSTA – Following recent announcements of closings and layoffs, Senate President Michael Thibodeau (R-Waldo) and House Speaker Mark Eves (D-North Berwick) are launching a legislative tour of Maine’s paper mills.
In coordination with Maine Pulp and Paper Association, legislative leaders will tour mills in Madison, Skowhegan and Westbrook on November 5th and Baileyville on November 12th. Following the tours, a workshop will take place at the State House where legislators will hear from paper industry experts. Leaders will then share what they have learned and what they hope to accomplish to help Maine’s paper mills on November 17th at the Maine Pulp and Paper Association’s summit on Maine’s pulp and paper industry.
“Rather than having the paper industry workers come to Augusta, we want go to the mills of Maine to witness the economic engine that is driving the forest products industry of our state.
“While we’re all disappointed in the bad news about closures and layoffs, we need to remember that there are also many success stories in Maine’s paper industry. We have the best paper makers in the world and we need to figure out how to capitalize on that.
“From a policy-making standpoint, those of us at the State House need to know what we’re doing right for the paper industry and where there is room for improvement.”
“Maine’s mill workers have faced incredibly challenging times. Many have lost their jobs or faced cut backs through no fault of their own,” said House Speaker Eves, who sponsored a new law to bolster training and retraining programs for students and displaced workers. “Our goal will be to speak with workers and industry leaders about how we can help. As I’ve traveled across the state on our jobs tour, we’ve focused on making sure our workers can get the skills and training they need to get a good-paying job. The manufacturing and machining skills that mill workers have are highly sought after in other industries. We’ll be talking to workers about the training and re-training programs we’ve been working to grow across the state.”