About 300 workers at Marathon Pulp Inc. are bracing for a month-long layoff beginning in August as the mill's Quebec-based owners shut down operations to get rid of excess inventory.
The shutdown is the longest layoff at the kraft mill in nearly two decades.
In 1982 workers were off for six weeks due to a worldwide slump in the demand for pulp. A similar fall-off in demand is behind this year's shutdown from Aug. 3 to Sept. 4. The company scheduled the shutdown for August in order to reduce the effect on workers who can lessen the consequences of being laid off by taking vacation time.
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