RUMFORD – Local 900 union president Matt Bean at NewPage Corp. confirmed Thursday afternoon that more than 100 people working in maintenance, electrical and instrumentation have been laid off for a week beginning Thursday.

“I have no information on the trickle down effect for the other departments,” he said.

He also said the No. 15 paper machine will go down for a week beginning Monday, and that ground wood and likely long log will also be down for a week beginning Monday.

Bean could not say how many employees, other than the maintenance crew, would be laid off.

He did say, however, that 37 mechanical maintenance employees and 28 electrical and instrumentation employees would stay on the job to provide coverage. Also, he said a few of the ground wood and possibly long log employees would remain on the job to keep a fire watch.

The latest layoffs follow an announcement earlier this month that the 10 mills owned by NewPage, based in Miamisburg, Ohio, would reduce production by 150,000 tons during the first quarter of 2009, including an undisclosed amount of paper produced at the Rumford mill.

A temporary shutdown of long log, ground wood and the pulp dryer put about 200 people out of work from Dec. 8 until Jan. 2.

Bean said he is flooded with telephone calls from employees who want to know their status and what is happening at the mill, but management has said very little despite weekly meetings.

Attempts to contact mill spokesman Tony Lyons were unsuccessful. Previously, he said the company would not comment on the potential for layoffs or numbers of people laid off.

NewPage layoffs appear to be in line with other paper mills around the country and the world. According to the PaperIndex Times, an online resource that publishes paper-related news, mills globally have reduced workers.