Finch Paper cuts 57 jobs

Apr 14, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. Finch Paper LLC in Glens Falls, NY, will cut 57 more jobs as it continues to fight through the slumping global paper market. President and CEO Joseph Raccuia announced the permanent layoffs. The cuts affect full-time, hourly workers, as The Business Review (Albany) informed Lesprom Network. When completed in August, the paper mill will have 500 hourly workers and 240 salaried positions. Raccuia said he will continue to cut costs, with the help of a new CFO that he brought with him when he joined Finch Paper in early February. “We’re looking at anything and everything we do, from energy savings through production planning through, obviously, labor cost reductions,” Raccuia added. “We’re looking under every rock.” In January, the company cut 15% of its white-collar, salaried employees - 43 jobs in all - in response to falling demand. Those job cuts included supervisors and sales representatives. The company has about $250 million in annual sales. Raccuia will achieve the latest round of job cuts this way: - 4 workers will be laid off in May. - 37 people will be laid off on Aug. 31. Until then, they’ll leave their current positions and fill in for workers on vacation or disability leave. - 16 vacant positions, created by people who left the company in recent months, will not be filled. The job cuts will save $3 million, Raccuia said. “We’re done with layoffs in 2009,” he said. Raccuia said many of the 41 workers that will be laid off could wind up being rehired, since Finch Paper typically loses five people per month to attrition. 7 local chapters of labor unions represent hourly workers at the Finch Paper plant, and Raccuia said he’s been meeting with all of them about the work force reductions. “One of my first and foremost goals was to open the lines of communication,” Raccuia said. “It’s a work in progress. I’m not saying I’m there yet, but the meeting went about as well as could be expected.” Raccuia wants to continue cutting costs, and he’s hired a new chief financial officer to help: John Kvocka. The two worked together at SCA Tissue and other paper companies, and Raccuia said he pulled Kvocka out of retirement to take the CFO position. The company is working on developing new products and also adjusting to the impact that digital media is having on the paper industry. “It’s time-consuming - it takes time to build those new markets,” Raccuia said. “We’re having to adapt to the changing times.”