McKinely to Close Port Angeles Paper Mill, Nearly 200 Workers Get 60-Day Notice

The Port Angeles paper mill in Washington, produces 100% recycled containerboard, such as liner and corrugated medium.

June 28, 2024 - McKinely Paper plans to shut-down operations at its paper mill in Port Angeles, Washington, and lay-off 193 employees on August 25.

The Peninsula Daily News reported that the company sent an email to employees earlier this week notifying them of an "indefinite mass layoff affecting approximately 193 employees."

The letter served as an official notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires most employers with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days notice of pending layoffs or closures.

"We expect that Aug. 24, 2024, which is the end of the 60-day WARN notice period, will be the last day of work for the majority of the effected employees before the indefinite layoff," the letter said.

"Based on the information available to us at this time, we hope that the facility will resume operations at some point in the future but we cannot say when."

The letter was sent to employees Tuesday afternoon and posted to social media shortly afterward, Peninsula Daily News reported.

According to the letter, employees released from employment before Aug. 24 will receive their full pay and benefits for the full 60-day period. Employees who are assigned work but choose to leave the company will not be entitled to pay or benefits beyond their final day of work.

McKinley Paper operates three paper mills in the United States: Prewitt, New Mexico; Combined Locks, Wisconsin; and the Port Angeles mill. The three mills produce 100% recycled containerboard (liner and corrugated medium) and other packaging grades of paper.

McKinely is a subsidiary of Bio Pappel, which is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.

In February of 2022, Bio Pappel, through McKinley Paper, acquired Midwest Paper Group (the Combined Locks mill in Wisconsin), a privately held manufacturer and distributor of recycled containerboard and natural kraft packaging grades. The mill has an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons.

McKinley Paper purchased the Port Angeles mill in April 2017 from Nippon Paper Industries USA for $20.6 million, including a biomass cogeneration electric plant.

SOURCE: Regional news reports