Georgia-Pacific will lay off nearly 700 people at mill

BATON ROUGE, La. – Georgia-Pacific says consumers aren’t buying as much copy paper anymore, forcing it to lay off nearly 700 people at a Louisiana mill.

Company spokesman Kelly Ferguson says meeting the demand for office paper isn’t a viable business long term as society continues to shift toward electronic communications.

The Advocate reports that around 300 people will continue working at the Port Hudson mill, producing toilet tissue and paper towels. The company says it will permanently shut down its office paper production assets, wood yard, pulp mill and most of its energy-generating complex by mid-March.

The newspaper says Georgia-Pacific will work with union leaders and salaried staff on how to best shut down the divisions and find work for employees at other company-owned facilities.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com