JAY – Wausau Paper officials are working to minimize the affect on employees working on the No. 11 paper machine when it slows operations from seven to five days a week.

The cutback is due to the result of a global economic slowdown, Vice President of Sales and Marketing Mike Nelson said.

“It’s certainly the economy; even some of our customers have been affected through their ability to get credit,” mill Manager Gary Garand said Monday.

The No. 11 machine will run Mondays through Fridays and be shut down Saturdays and Sundays for now, Garand said.

It is unknown when the machine will start running seven days again, he said.

The number of employees affected will vary day to day, he said.

This time of year is typically a high vacation time due to hunting season, Garand said.

When a machine runs a five-day schedule, Garand said, it typically affects 10 to 20 employees. But the mill is going to try and minimize the work loss by addressing training needs for employees, he said.

The mill’s No. 10 paper machine has also gone to a five-day work week, Garand said. Earlier this year, company officials announced the No. 10 machine would be closed for good by the year’s end putting 150 people out of work.

That machine was running five days a week since the spring due to high energy costs but recently was operating seven days after more orders came in for that machine’s products before it was shut down for good, he said.

A work week shortened by two days usually affects about 20 people per machine said Union President Kim LaVoie

Some workers who know they would be laid off once No. 10 goes off line have accepted jobs elsewhere and left the mill without taking severance pay, LaVoie said.

When they actually shut down No. 10, there will be 70 hourly workers left on the payroll and about 17 salaried, LaVoie said. But some of those workers may continue to be temporarily laid-off until the No. 11 starts running seven-day weeks again.

LaVoie said SAD 36 adult education and other neighboring community programs, as well as the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area are doing everything they can to make themselves available to workers losing their jobs.