|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
12/17/2006Newsmakers 2006Some former workers are still recoveringMore than 200 lost jobs when the plant closed
Jim Nowak of Elmira stqands outside the Georgia-Pacific plant in Gaylord in March. GAYLORD — Jeff Dunbar packed up and moved his family to the Upper Peninsula this summer to take a new job after losing his longtime position. He worked for nine years at the Georgia-Pacific particleboard plant in Gaylord that unexpectedly closed in March. "Not working is not an option,” Dunbar said. He now works as a technical director for another wood products plant, a Louisiana-Pacific factory in Newberry that makes oriented-strand board for building construction. "It was better than California. A company flew us out there for an interview, but the cost of living there is so high,” said his wife Brandy Dunbar, who is pregnant with the couple's third child. More than 200 people lost their jobs when Georgia-Pacific closed shop and left Gaylord. The Dunbars are not the only ones to move away to find work, while others took advantage of state benefits and went back to school for job retraining. State leaders set aside $800,000 in financial aid for laid-off workers in northern Michigan for career training programs at Kirtland Community College in Roscommon and the affiliated Michigan Technical Education Center in Gaylord. Meanwhile, some managed to find jobs in the area, though others have not been as fortunate. "I'm still looking for a job. I've got applications all over,” said Jim Nowak of Elmira. He had just one job interview at a bus company in the eight months since the plant closed, but didn't get the job, he said. But Nowak said he's enthusiastic about a start-up company that bought the vacant G-P factory last month. Upper 40 is affiliated with a Detroit-based wood products company and intends to manufacture wood fuel pellets to sell in European markets after final property sale closure this month. "I'm hopeful with my experience, because they'll be running some of the same machines,” Nowak said. "It would be excellent to get back in there. I only need 10 more years or so, now that I'm 52.” Upper 40 eventually will employ about 100 workers within a year to 18 months, said Chris Delusky, company president. See related stories:
See related editorials:
|
|
