JAY – Wausau Paper mill workers were in the process of bringing the No. 11 paper machine back online Monday after a three-week shutdown due to market-related downtime, mill Director of Operations Gary Garand said.

“We’re getting it going today,” he said Monday. “We are operating on a five-day mode.”

Wausau shut down its two paper machines Dec. 14 at the Otis Mill in Jay. No. 10 machine was taken offline permanently, resulting in about 150 people losing their jobs. No. 11 was temporarily idled, putting nearly 100 people out of work short-term.

The company also had temporary shutdowns at four mills in Wisconsin and Minnesota to reduce production to enable Wausau to better match output with order patterns while continuing to meet customers’ product needs, a company official previously said.

The first completed roll of paper was expected to come off the No. 11 machine in Jay early Monday afternoon, said Perry Grueber, Wausau’s director of investor relations based in Mosinee, Wis.

People who lost their jobs on the No. 10 machine learned in mid-December that they are eligible for federal trade adjustment assistance.

Work sessions to go over the benefits with affected workers were held Dec. 23, a day later than initially scheduled due to a snowstorm, Maine Department of Labor representative Judy Pelletier said Monday.

“We had a great turnout,” she said. “We had a huge number attend compared to others that we held.”

Anyone who didn’t attend will be sent the information.

Some of the workers scheduled to lose their jobs are still working and there will be follow-up sessions to help them as well, Pelletier said.

“This is the first round,” she said.

Some people already were meeting with CareerCenter staff in Wilton to learn about their options and more expressed interest in post-secondary education during the work sessions.

“We identified people who had been interested in starting school in January,” Pelletier said.

The next semester for college starts mid-January and workers had been warned it would be a quick turnaround to get everything required completed in time to start.

Approximately 20 people were interested in going to school this month, she said.

Pelletier said they are still waiting to hear if a National Emergency Grant application for $307,400 filed Dec. 4 will be approved. That money would help add more staff at the CareerCenter to help the affected workers as well as others affected by the loss of jobs in the community.