Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Potlatch employees talk severance

By Wendy Ledbetter

Former employees of

Prescotts Potlatch Facility

have completed meetings with

company officials to determine

severance packages, and some

say they are not pleased with

the results.

We accepted what the

company offered, said union

president Nicky Ward. I

wouldnt say it was very

good.

Following the final meeting

with the company, Ward said

he was satisfied that the union

had done what it could for the

employees, but said he was

disappointed with the outcome.

The final settlement,

according to several employees,

was that only those who

had worked at least seven

years got any severance package

at all and the final amount

amounted to less than half

what employees had initially

expected.

A group of about 20 met

recently at Prescott as the

Nevada County Economic

Development was holding an

informational meeting for

other employees. The problem,

they say, is not what was done

to help them move forward but

the fact that they were greatly

limited with the package initially

being offered.

You cant even move a

family to get another job, said

Randy Harris, citing the

amount many of the employees

are expecting and the amount

that will remain after taxes.

Typically, companies that

close permanently give their

former employees severance

packages that reward length of

service. Potlatch employees

said after the initial meetings

that they have been offered

less than half what theyd

expected, and that the company

has decided to put a cap

on the number of years that

will be rewarded. That means

an employee who has been

with the company for 40 years

would get the same severance

package as someone who has

been there 26 years. And several

have been there much

longer than the 26 years.

Randolph Gulley lacks just

a couple of months until his

27th anniversary. He said he

got out of high school and

went to work for Potlatch,

and has been there ever since.

Asked what he plans to do

next, he replied, What can I

do? I want to go to school.

Another long-term employee

is David Maskell who has

been with Potlatch 42 years.

Maskell said hell retire now,

but that he supports his fellow

employees as they seek the

most fair package possible.

I started here in 1966, he

said.

One former employee cited

the cost of COBRA insurance,

that the family plan is expensive

and that they cant afford

to be without it.

Most of us are going to

work for less than we could

draw in unemployment just to

get insurance, said another.

The Potlatch facility

announced that the plant

would close by May and the

company seems to be on track.

Matt Van Vleet, a public relations

spokesman for Potlatch,

said the last Potlatch mill to

close was probably seven

years ago. He said negotiations

are ongoing and

declined to comment on any

specifics, including what the

cost to the company for a full

weeks pay per year of service

would cost the company.

Potlatch is a publicly traded

company and as such, their

earnings statements are public

record. Annual reports are

available online at

www.potlatchcorp.com.