Department of Labor offers assistance to JD Lumber workers

Department of Labor offers assistance to JD Lumber workers

PRIEST RIVER — The Idaho Department of Labor has scheduled an initial meeting on Saturday to provide information about unemployment insurance, employment services, retraining opportunities and employee rights for the workers who are being idled by the announced closing of the JD Lumber sawmill in Priest River.

The orientation session will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Priest River High School cafeteria. A second session is planned for Wednesday, Aug. 20, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.

The company notified the department in a letter dated Aug. 1 that it was shutting the mill down at the end of September and all 216 employees would be officially dismissed on Oct. 3. The notice was mandated by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, which requires employers to provide workers 60 days notice of a layoff or closure if more than 100 workers are affected.

On Aug. 3, the company announced that it was selling the mill to Riley Creek Lumber, which said the mill’s future would be assessed next spring.  The company said it may be able to hire up to 70 of the JD Lumber employees for its mills in Laclede, Moyie Springs and Chilco, and as many as 20 others have already found new jobs. But at least 125 will still be left without work when the mill closes.