Lawrence Paper Co. laid off eight employees this week, as orders continue to slow for the company’s cardboard boxes and other packaging products.
Affected employees had worked in either the main office or factory at 2801 Lakeview Road.
The economic downturn already had prompted the company to lay off 15 employees Feb. 27, and the latest round of cuts — implemented today and Tuesday — was more of the same, said Justin Hill, company president.
“Business volume continues to be severely down,” said Hill, who had acknowledged two months ago that orders had been down 20 percent compared with a year earlier. “It’s gotten just a little bit worse.”
Before the latest layoffs, Lawrence Paper had 260 employees, of whom 200 were in Lawrence. All eight employees laid off this week had been working in Lawrence, where the company has a 900,000-square-foot production center that typically makes 250,000 boxes each day.
As other companies continue to curtail their own shipping and production operations, Hill said, Lawrence Paper can’t afford to maintain production levels when excess inventory simply would pile up in a warehouse.
“It all depends on the economy,” Hill said. “We’re at the mercy of what the economy does.”
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AttaGirl (anonymous) says…
They say it's a layoff, but actually we're all fired. They have no plans to bring us back. One man who was let go this week had complained about getting Carpal tunnel from his machine and Lawrence Paper refused to pay for it and now they let him go. He had just stated recently that he was getting an attorney. Lawrence Paper Company has alot of problems inside. It's all who you know and not your job skills. They have let go people who could run every machine efficiently in their department, but yet kept some person who kisses behinds and they can't do hardly anything. I feel bad for everyone who has lost their job, and just wish them well. We're better off without Lawrence Paper Company.
Informed (anonymous) says…
Bitter much?
d_prowess (anonymous) says…
Do you really think a company that has an employee threatening to get a lawyer would be one of the 8 laid-off? All that would do is provide possible fuel for the lawsuit. So I guess I am questioning that aspect of the comment.
imastinker (anonymous) says…
I'm questioning that comment too. It sounds like they laid off at least one of the right people!
AttaGirl (anonymous) says…
I can give you his name. I agree with you that it makes no logical sense to fire a person getting ready to sue you. But it happened. It was common knowledge in the plant of his intentions. I'm bitter when it comes to some of these people being there 35 - 40 years and being let go with no severance pay or anything. You can say what you want regarding me, but the ones with families and medical issues are going to have it rough now.
orioledw (anonymous) says…
If it was that bad a place to work I can harldy see anyone staying there 30 years.
Practicality (anonymous) says…
Lawrence Paper Company is notorious for its ill treatment of their employees. Especially their injured ones. Too many negative occurances over the years to just be a conincidence. This is not a comment about these layoffs though. Were the recent employees terminated/layed off the most recent hired, or were they long term employees close to retirement in a few years?
DishFSM (anonymous) says…
I worked for Lawrence Paper Company for 25 years before I realized there were better places to work out there. LPC conditions their employees to believe they are unable to get a job anywhere else. I have seen them terminate people for getting hurt on the job. If you do threaten to sue them, their mentality is to bring it on. And good luck finding an attorney to take your case. Most of them are afraid to even try to take LPC on. When the president of the company goes out in front of the building and turns a hose on city workers investigating them putting to much sewage down the drain, that tells you the type of management mentallity they have. I left their seven yeras ago and have never looked back or regretted it. If you still work there, get out the first chance you get.
Sigmund (anonymous) says…
Lawrence Paper Company is such a lousy place to work that those who were laid off are going to sue to get their jobs back. The real news is the economy is crap and going to stay that way. The American economy is largely packed in cardboard. If manufactures don't need boxes that means they aren't selling products. Don't expect the economy to improve until cardboard box sales pick up.
AttaGirl (anonymous) says…
Practicality,
One man had been there 41 years and several others were over 30 years. It was random amounts. There was a comment made above about employees suing to get their jobs back. Not sure where you heard that, but I only mentioned that the one employee had been wanting to sue over his work related injury.
Orioledw,
You wondered why someone would stay there over 30 years if it was such a bad job? Strong work ethics cause people to stay at a job. People in that generation were brought up to go to work everyday and do your job whether you liked it or not. I admire the ones that stayed there 10, 20 or more years. Shows me how strong willed they are.
Practicality (anonymous) says…
If they let go the ones that were getting close to retirement, and kept the new hires, that seems pretty dirty to me. Of course, I have heard many horror stories concerning how LPC treated injured workers, so it isn't too surprising.
lee_go_hawks (anonymous) says…
I've never worked for LPC and certainly am in no position to judge them. What I will say is that during this recession, don't be too quick to judge anybody. These are tough times. Extraordinary times. Letting people go is no more fun for the company than it is for the people being let go. These are tough decisions. LPC provides a lot of jobs. I'd rather they stay in business and stay profitable, even if it means having to let people go to get to that point.