Long-timers ponder Idaho Veneer layoffs

POST FALLS - These are uncharted times for Randy Allen and some of his co-workers at Idaho Veneer.

The 60-year-old was among those affected by the company's decision last week to lay off about half of its workforce indefinitely due to a glut of inventory and building slowdown.

"I've been there for 36 years, and I've never collected an unemployment check," Allen said Wednesday, adding that he expects his first in about a week.

The 55-year-old company's layoffs, which include 32 jobs at its Post Falls plant and another eight in Samuels north of Sandpoint, shows how the economic woes have reached even senior employees of firms that have prided themselves on providing stable work for decades.

Allen said most of those laid off have been with the company more than 15 years and several have been there more than 30. While the veneer plant is shut down, the sawmill continues to operate.

Allen said the company has gradually sliced its workforce over the years, but it had always adjusted to the times by offering different projects or changing schedules to remain viable. But he said this recession and credit crisis became too much to bear.

"They've had slowdowns, but most of the time they've moved people around and found jobs for us to do," Allen said. "It's been a family-run business over the years with a rock-solid base. I think that's how we've survived."

Klaus Noonan, 55, is No. 1 on the seniority list with 37 years. He started when he was 18.

"When you're used to getting a regular paycheck, this is an odd situation," he said, adding that he'll receive his first unemployment check in more than 30 years.

Larry Zimmerman, who has been with the company 32 years, was laid off for eight months in the 1980s and lost six years worth of seniority as a result. He hopes the current layoff won't last as long.

"But all you can do is see what happens," he said.

The workers are in no-man's land pondering their next move. And, regardless of how they look at the situation, it always comes back to playing the waiting game.

Company management said they could bring some workers back in about a month, but there are no guarantees.

So employees said it's premature to look for work elsewhere and, even if they did, the job scene is dismal and most or all of their experience is in the timber industry, which has few survivors left.

Zimmerman, 60, said he's feeling an urgency to return to work, but not knowing when that will happen is difficult.

"I had everything set as far as looking to the future and retirement, but with the economy I've lost a lot of money in my retirement account," he said, adding that the layoff will escalate matters. "Now I may not retire when I want to."

Noonan said he realizes the employment scenario is out of his control.

"If you start to look elsewhere, I don't know what that would be," he said. "At my age, what do you re-train in? Obviously, the options are much more limited."

As jarring as the situation is, employees said they saw the layoffs coming and believe the company kept them on for as long as possible.

"With the economic slowdown, we had been looking for it," Allen said. "I was pretty surprised they kept going for as long as they had."

Noonan added: "I know in my heart that isn't what they wanted to do, but they just had to make a hard decision. They're just suffering the effects of the economy like everyone else."

Meantime, the workers said they still have family and home projects they can catch up on.

"There's always the honey-do list," Zimmerman said.

Noonan said he feels fortunate to have steady work for as long as he did.

"It's a tough time," he said. "You always hope it doesn't reach you, but when it does it brings you to reality. You just hope and pray for the best that we start to pull out of it."