A Missoula-area factory that produces trim and siding for houses is set to lay off more than 100 employees next month.
UFP Edge employee Clint Workman says the plant’s closure blindsided him and his fellow workers. He says managers gathered employees together on the factory floor and broke the news.
“Before they announced any of that, people were joking: ‘Oh, we’re all getting fired.’ And then it actually ended up that’s what it was,” Workman says.
A spokesperson for UFP Edge says the Bonner, MT plant’s closure is part of the company’s nationwide consolidation efforts. She says tariffs did not play a role in the decision.
Workman’s done this song and dance before. He worked for Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula years ago and was laid off as the plant cut costs. Roseburg closed its doors permanently last year, a week after a timber mill in Seeley Lake also shut its doors.
Workman says he’ll be working at UFP Edge right up until its final day on September 27.
“Am I happy about it? No. Do I want to be there? No,” Workman says. “But, I’ve got two kids I’ve got to support and that’s what takes the matter over everything.”
The state is trying to help. Workman attended an event in Missoula hosted by the labor department intended to help the Bonner factory’s employees get connected with new jobs. Labor commissioner Sarah Swanson was there, too.
“Yeah, we’re getting pretty good at rapid response, unfortunately,” Swanson says.
The department says it’s using federal grant money to provide training for 45 laid-off employees from last year’s plant closures, and will do the same for the UFP Edge workers. The agency says many wood products workers end up in truck driving, machining and construction.
Swanson says she doesn’t feel the factory closures in Missoula County reflect the end of the timber industry here.
Missoula Economic Partnership director Grant Kier agrees that the Bonner plant’s closure isn’t necessarily a sign the timber industry is on its last legs.
“It’s everybody’s responsibility community-wide to be looking for more signs to figure out what is a real signal – telling us there’s a change we need to be preparing for – and what is just typical business and economic churn, where some businesses are going to be successful and do really well, and others are going to struggle and go out of business,” Kier said. “That’s part of a normal economy.”
Despite that shift, employees like Workman are still feeling the decline in the wood products industry.
