Blandin Paper Company's announcement that it will shut down two paper machines and lay off 298 workers is another blow to Minnesota's already hard-hit manufacturing sector.

Northern Minnesota, in particular, has witnessed huge job losses in the taconite and paper industries in recent years.

Teamsters Local 346, which represents most of the Blandin workforce, sees a connection between the cutbacks and free trade agreements that send work to where the pay is lowest.

'There is no job in America that is safe as long as there's NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and globalization,' Local 346 Secretary Pat Radzak told the Grand Rapids Herald-Review. 'The product made on the 3 and 4 (paper machines) is now being made in Finland and they're going to ship it into America.'

Blandin was acquired by UPM-Kymmene, a Finnish-based multinational, in 1997.

Joe Maher, general manager of Blandin, said in a company news release that the paper machines, which were originally built in 1931 and 1963, are too old. They 'contributed significantly to the company's reputation as a quality publication papers producer,' Maher said. 'However, paper production overcapacity continues to be a business reality in North America and we need to focus on our most productive, most efficient, low cost assets.'

Minnesota in serious position
Staff from the state Dislocated Workers Program has begun the process to provide career counseling, retraining and other services to the Blandin workers. They join a growing list of manufacturing workers statewide who have filled the unemployment rolls during the current recession.

The latest Minnesota Financial Report issued by the state Department of Finance found that manufacturing declined by 38,000 jobs in the past two and one-half years. 'That drop wipes out more than 80 percent of Minnesota's manufacturing job gains of the 1990s,' the report said.

At the same time, many Minnesotans are struggling to survive without unemployment benefits. This week, Congress passed and President Bush signed legislation to extend unemployment benefits.

In Minnesota, this will help the approximately 13,000 unemployed workers who were cut off from their extensions on Dec. 28, according to the JOBS NOW Coalition. But, the coalition notes, 'the continuation does nothing for the additional 35,000 Minnesota workers who exhausted both regular and extended benefits in 2002. If any of those workers remain unable to find work, they will get no assistance under the extension passed yesterday.'

Jobless ranks grow
The AFL-CIO makes a similar point. It says some 1 million workers nationwide have exhausted their normal and emergency unemployment benefits and still haven't found work. Both the JOBS NOW Coalition and the AFL-CIO said providing benefits to these workers would not only be humane, but would also provide an immediate boost to the economy.

The AFL-CIO called on Bush and Congress to approve an economic stimulus plan that would 'put more money in the hands and pockets of families who need it and will spend it now.' The plan includes:

• Extending emergency unemployment benefits and health care coverage for the unemployed-retroactively;
• Aiding states in paying for health care, homeland security, education and vital public services;
• Accelerating federal investments in schools, roads, bridges, transportation, clean water and industry to create jobs;
• Rebating some taxes to all workers, with benefits concentrated toward low- and moderate-income taxpayers; and
• Increasing the federal minimum wage.

For more information

Read the AFL-CIO statements on unemployment compensation and the economy:

http://www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/ns01082003.cfm

http://www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/ns01062003a.cfm

Related article

Forecast shows Minnesota workers hit hard by recession