Retraining Offered After Timber Layoffs

Three dozen timber workers who lost their jobs at Crown Pacific’s Colburn mill are eligible for federal retraining assistance.

The mill was shut down for two weeks in June due to poor lumber market conditions. When the mill reopened at the end of the month, the third shift was eliminated, said Crown Pacific spokesman Bob Hess. About 90 workers remain.

Since increased competition from Canadian mills led to the layoffs, the workers are eligible for assistance under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The program assists workers who lose their jobs or are forced to work part-time due to increased imports from Canada and Mexico, or shifts in production to those countries.

Crown Pacific also laid off 22 workers at its Bonners Ferry mill in June. However, the company expects to rehire many of those workers when it opens a new Bonners Ferry mill in fall, Hess said.