At least 300 workers are set to be laid off in Natchitoches Parish by the end of April. International Paper is shutting down its Red River Mill in Campti, LA, which produces containerboard and which just celebrated its 50th anniversary in operation in March of last year.
The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) and Louisiana Economic Development (LED) announced that they are providing access to their rapid response team services. The LWC’s Mobile Workforce Centers will be open both Thursday and Friday, February 20-21, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at two locations. One location is the Natchitoches City Council chambers, while the other location is the Campti Resource Center.
Natchitoches Mayor Ronnie Williams, Jr. tells us that some of the workers will be transferred to the I-P plant in Mansfield, while other local industries are stepping forward to help, as well. “I think it’s an opportunity for, RoyOMartin’s going to be there, maybe some other H.R. folks from you know various companies are going to be there. And it’s, it’s , you know, it’s like, really like a job fest, you know, placing people, maybe setting up interviews and things like that, I’m not sure if they’re going to interview on site, but certainly we’ll set up interviews with individuals. And so, yeah, it’s an opportunity to get people connected with industries in the area so they can continue employment somewhere.”
As Jeff Palermo with the Louisiana Radio Network (LRN) reports, Natchitoches native and economic developer Jon Maynard says closure of the mill will increase unemployment and reduce local spending. Maynard says Natchitoches Parish’s economy was already suffering an economic decline that began 20 years ago. “There are already things that were troublesome, low incomes, low median-household income, low participation rates, high poverty levels.” Maynard says adding to Natchitoches Parish’s economic troubles is the 16% decline in employment at Northwestern State University (NSU) since 2019 and a declining Natchitoches-based student population.
