Louisiana-Pacific Plans Reductions

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. has decided to reduce its corporate presence in northern Idaho and move an undetermined number of local employees to jobs elsewhere in the United States and Canada.

In the initial phase, 20 administrative workers from the 130-member regional office will be relocated within five months to Louisiana-Pacific’s headquarters in Portland, regional human resources manager Jim Beldin said Thursday.

“It’s a reorganization of our administrative staff to improve its effectiveness and efficiency by bringing people together who can more effectively work in the same location,” Beldin said. “This is phase one of a consolidation of regional headquarters into the corporate office.”

Beldin said he would not know how many local workers will remain until mid-1998.

“People here are very concerned about their future in Hayden Lake,” he said. “We are going to do everything we can do to help them, but it is a tough time for us all.”

Besides the tax department, Beldin said other areas of Louisiana-Pacific’s local operation involved would include the oriented strandboard and lumber business teams, information technology and some engineering positions.

, DataTimes