RUMFORD – Laid off salaried employees at NewPage Corp. began leaving their jobs on the day the permanent elimination of 130 salaried and hourly positions was announced.

That was Jan. 27.

Mill spokesman Tony Lyons said the last of the 30 salaried employees to permanently lose their jobs will be gone by the end of the month.

The 100 hourly employees may get a bit more time, he said.

Lyons said some hourly employees were laid off last week, and more this week. However, because of the last-in, first-out union rule, and the need for training those who will keep a job, several more weeks will be required before the entire 130 positions are eliminated.

The layoff is one step the company is taking to cut costs.

“We’re continuing to respond to the marketplace and respond as best we can,” Lyons said.

Planned additional steps have not been made public.

When the permanent layoffs are complete, about 860 employees will be working at the mill.

Local 900 union President Matt Bean said last week that meetings with management and changes at the mill are happening minute-by-minute.

Along with the permanent layoffs are a series of so-called rolling layoffs where people working on one machine will be laid off for a week. They will return, then another machine will go down along with a week’s layoff for those employees, Bean said.

Management did not confirm the rolling layoffs, nor did it provide the number of employees affected.

The community is rallying around employees who have lost their jobs by organizing an open house set for Feb. 18 when former NewPage workers can learn about job training and other services.

The layoff is the result of NewPage’s decision to reduce the number of tons it produces by 150,000 during the first quarter of 2009. NewPage’s Miamisburg, Ohio, management also said in a statement that the Rumford plant has higher costs than others that it owns across the country.