Stimson Lumber workers reflect on loss of jobs, plan for new careers
By TYLER CHRISTENSEN of the Missoulian
A cardboard box inside Mike Woodworth’s office is stuffed with envelopes, and on each of those envelopes is a name.
Woodworth heads the Local 3038 of the Lumber Production and Industrial Workers Union, which recently negotiated a severance package for 133 workers who lost their jobs last week when Stimson Lumber Company permanently closed its plywood plant.
Now, workers drop by Woodworth’s office on Main Street at all hours to collect their envelopes, which contain information about that severance package, and to ask about any additional assistance for which they might qualify.
They come in sawdust-filled jeans, threadbare T-shirts and heavy steel-toed work boots worn and comfortable as sneakers. They want Woodworth to explain their rights and offer career advice.
He tells an older worker how to extend his health insurance into retirement. He strongly cautions a younger worker against cashing in his retirement account now.
He tells many of them that they qualify for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance, which is meant to help workers displaced by imports get back on their feet by offering extending employment benefits and job retraining for up to two years.
Before long, his two-room office is crowded with former Stimson workers. They lean in the doorway, then fill the hall outside, talking to each other as they wait their turn to talk to Woodworth. The phone rings incessantly.
Woodworth greets each person by name and points to the box of envelopes.
John Abel’s name is at the front of the stack.
Come November, he would have worked at the mill in Bonner for nearly 30 years. His wife, Karen, has worked there for 23.
When John learned he was about to be laid off, he began casting about for another job in the lumber industry. Karen has some family in lumber mill-friendly Eugene, Ore., so the family began its search there.
“He just went mill to mill to mill,” Karen said.
John put in six applications in all, she said, and received three positive responses.
“They were really interested in the fact that he had 30 years of mill experience,” Karen said.
He will start working at Seneca Sawmill Company on Monday. The Abel family expected to move to Oregon on Saturday, though Karen will stay behind a bit longer while she trains someone to fill her position at the mill. She is currently the administrative assistant for the stud mill manager.
The family’s budget will be pinched for a while after she leaves her job, she said, but her severance package will help them get by, and she expects to find another job soon.
“There’s a lot of jobs over there and the jobs there pay way better than they do here,” Karen said. “I’m not too worried about it. We’ll be fine.”
Stimson has been a great employer, she added. It’s hard to leave the company, and it’s hard to leave Bonner.
“We have a beautiful home we have to sell,” she said. “It’s been 23 years here for me, and John has lived here all his life. I’ll be leaving my son behind. Those are the heart aches.”
They don’t dwell on the heart aches, however. The Abel family, Karen said, prefers to look to the future -- and the future looks bright.
Bill Ailport started working at the Bonner mill in 1971, back when it was still owned by Anaconda Copper Co. In those days, he remembered, he earned $3.25 an hour on the green chain and considered it good money.
This past week, he and other Stimson workers spent some time cleaning out the mill’s old warehouse, which houses the signatures of countless former workers. Many of those names are also dated, Ailport noted, and the dates go back to 1923, 1917, 1908.
There are some names and dates they can’t quite make out, he added. They cover the warehouse walls and ceiling.
“That’s one building I hope they don’t tear down,” Ailport says. “That’s a lot of history in those walls.”
In fact, the mill in Bonner is the oldest continuous sawmill operation in the nation. It got its start on June 6, 1886, after Edward L. Bonner and five business partners agreed to supply timber ties to the Northern Pacific Railroad.
The Anaconda Mining Co. purchased the mill nine years later, and kept it until 1972, when it sold the property to Champion International, which sold to Stimson in 1993.
Over the course of its long history, the mill has seen its share of ups and downs. Ailport was employed at the mill during the boom of the early ‘80s, when the mill’s payroll included the names of more than 1,000 workers. He has made a lot of friends over the years, he said.
In fact, the saddest part about losing his job, he added, is knowing he will no longer see those friends every day. Many are leaving for other parts of the country, and he won’t likely see them ever again. Others, he said, will probably stay in the area, and he hopes to bump into them them now and again.
For his part, Ailport turned 54 years old on July 4 and is now a mere eight years from retirement. To fill the time, he plans to get a “fun job,” he said, adding that he can do some carpentry and plumbing.
He doesn’t plan on going anywhere.
“I was born and raised here,” he said. “I ain’t going to leave.”
Robert Brester would like start a new career.
He has worked at the Bonner mill since 1977, and is looking forward to a change of pace. A new job could be a wonderful thing, he said, provided it was in a stable field.
“I want something to last a while,” he said. “Something to last 20 years.”
However, he isn’t sure he can make ends meet while he’s in school. Brester has lived in company housing for about eight years, and a move will likely bring a rent hike. Also, he is supporting his 19-year-old daughter and a 5-month-old grandbaby. His wife passed away four years ago.
“I’d like to complain about some things but that doesn’t change anything, nohow,” he says. “It is what it is. One way or another it’ll work out. I don’t know how it’ll work, but I’ll figure something out. If I was only taking care of myself it’d be one thing. I’m worried -- more worried about my daughter than me.
“I’m more scared of going to school than anything,” he continued, grinning. “It’s been 30 years since I took a test or anything like that. I feel like I’m 18 again; what do I want to do with the rest of my life?”
It’s a question being asked over and over, and answered in 133 different ways.
Steve DeMers believes he may have a job lined up delivering mail for the the U.S. Postal Service. Tom Hatch will be 59 years old in October, and he is hoping to take early retirement.
Jared Lewis had been working for a local mason one day out of the week while he also worked for Stimson. When he was laid off after six years at the mill, he joined the mason full-time.
“I thought it was probably going to close down,” said Lewis, 29. “I didn’t want to work there for the rest of my life, anyways.”
Barry Martin, 27, is also taking the plywood plant’s closing in stride. It wasn’t any great surprise, he said.
“It’s about time it did, I guess,” said Martin, who worked at the plant for five years. “Everyone worried about their jobs every day. This’ll end that, at least.”
He plans to take advantage of the opportunity to retrain, he said, although he hasn’t decided on a new field.
Curt Sowre is also keen to go to school. Like Martin, he hasn’t settled on any particular industry yet -- though he is looking into health care with particular interest.
“I’m not really sure yet,” said Sowre, a mill worker since 1977. “I’m just excited about the opportunity. It’s a do-over. Not many times in life you get a do-over.”
That’s not to say his time at the mill wasn’t well-spent, he added. He learned how to do many different kinds of lumber-related jobs, and those jobs allowed him to raise his children and send them to school.
Now, at age 48, he has time enough to embark on a new career.
Like many of his former coworkers, Tony Zito hasn’t made any decisions about his next career just yet. After 25 years, going to work anywhere but the Bonner mill will take some getting used to.
“I’m not sure what it’s going to be like,” he said. “A lot of families were raised out there.”
He pointed out that his father, Joe Zito, worked at the mill until he was able to retire a few years ago. Tony and his brother, who is also named Joe Zito, once worked at the mill, and so did their two sons.
His son, Michael Zito, is now a diesel mechanic, and his nephew, Joe Zito again, is currently working for a fence company.
But Tony Zito hasn’t figured out what his own future holds.
“Maybe I’ll go to school, maybe I’ll find a job,” he said. “Something not in the timber industry. I’m done with that.”
Reporter Tyler Christensen can be reached at 523-5215 or tyler.christensen@lee.net
