JD Lumber lays off employees

PRIEST RIVER — An untold number of lumber workers are waking up this morning without a job after JD Lumber announced it was laying off its second shift, effective immediately.

The mill, which prior to this round of layoffs employed more than 200 workers, announced early this month it was selling the company to Riley Creek Lumber and closing its doors for good in early October.

The layoffs come as a result of sudden, dramatic and unexpected weather and market conditions in the lumber industry, the company said in a memo to the Department of Employment.

Under the federal WARN Act, an employer must provide 60-days notice to affected employees before layoffs of more than 100 workers. JD Lumber President Dave Slaughter declined to specify how many employees worked the second shift.

The memo said JD Lumber acted in good faith in its attempt to meet WARN Act obligations to employees, but added the company does not have the necessary revenue to fully compensate a second shift.

Slaughter left open the possibility of bringing back some or all of the second shift if lumber prices rise and the company’s log inventory increases, but in order for that to happen there would need to be a considerable shift in the lumber market, said Kathryn Tacke, regional economist with the Idaho Department of Labor. Tacke said she is not optimistic about a turnaround in the market in the near future.

“This is just one of many layoffs and mill closures that we’ve had in North Idaho in the last 18 months because of the terrible conditions in the lumber market, with prices being so very low,” she said.