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Wednesday, 31 December 2008 |
Local lumber company lets 12 employees go due to historically low timber market
BY SOPHIA ALDOUS
S-E Staff Reporter
Because of poor market con¬ditions in the timber in¬dustry, Vaagen Bros Lumber Inc. laid off 12 employees on Monday from the company’s Colville mill. The family-run business cur¬rently employs around 180 people, including its mill in Usk.
Vaagen Bros Vice President Russ Vaagen said the layoffs mostly affect employees who have been with the mill less than the 90-day probationary period that all new employees go through.
“We rearranged some of our shifts in hopes of operating better during leaner times,” explained Vaagen. “We are staffing each shift due to market changes. We have two shifts in saw and one in planer, and we’re just trying to find a way to operate more efficiently at a time when the timber industry is at an all-time low.”
Vaagen Bros. Limber is not the first area mill to experi¬ence tough times in a stag¬nant industry. Earlier this year, Boise Cascade layed off a num¬ber of employees and Stimson Lumber in Arden shut down entirely.
The problem, according to industry offici8als, is a seri¬ous lack of demand from the housing market, coupled with a decrease in prices mills can acquire for their product.
Vaagen estimated that the high for lumber was during the 2004-2005 period when the mill could make $490 per thousand board feet. During the last three years, the price has dropped to $209 per thousand board feet.
“It’s all a case of supply and demand, and the demand is horribly low right now,” stated Vaagen.
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Wednesday, 31 December 2008 |
Free class offers information, skills for job search
By JAMIE HENNEMAN
S-E Staff Reporter
In response to the recent lay¬offs and the depressed job mar¬ket in the area, the Institute for Extended Learning Center in Colville is offering a free four-week “New Chance” class for workers who have been laid off. Center Manager Donna Jo Smith hopes the class will pro¬vide some fresh opportunities by covering a variety of important work related topics.
“This class will include things like labor market information, career exploration, help with re¬sumes and portfolios as well as skills like how to interview suc¬cessfully,” she said. “This class is being taught by our counsel¬ors and faculty and will be free to workers who have been laid off from their jobs.”
The Colville IEL is a branch of the Community Colleges of Spo¬kane and is often referred to as the Colville community college. The “New Chance” class will start Jan. 13 and run through Feb. 5 and will be held on Tues¬days, Wednesdays, Thursdays during those weeks.
Non-credit business classes also offered
Along with the “New Chance” class, the local community col¬lege center is also offering a set of non-credit classes to help bolster job skills for area work¬ers. The non-credit classes are usually held in the evenings and range from learning basic elec¬trical circuits to the basics of microenterprise, QuickBooks 2009 or starting a virtual as¬sisting business.
These low-cost classes can help workers improve their skills for the job they are al¬ready in or prepare them for new career opportunities. These classes meet the workplace fo¬cus of the college, said Smith.
“Our main focus here is helping people get the skills they need to be in the workforce, or the academic background they need to transfer to a four year college,” said Smith, noting that the college has an average of 400 students enrolled per quarter. “We can help people pick themselves up and follow their dream.”
The college also offers daytime credit college courses and adult basic education classes along with learning English as a sec¬ond language offerings and lit¬eracy classes.
The classes held at the Colville Center also extend far beyond the city limits it to areas like Inchelium, Ione, Republic, Pullman, Davenport, Reardan and Creston through an inter¬active video system. Course in¬structors and students can in¬teract in real time video streaming that allows students at Colville and Newport, for in¬stance, to take the same class at the same time.
“We are using technology that allows us to provide classes to rural areas like the interactive video system,” said Smith. “We also provide class material on¬line through a program called Blackboard.”
The video technology at the IEL also uses a program called “SnapStream” that records class lectures to be viewed by stu¬dents who need to be absent or can’t make it to class due to the weather.
Financial aid is available
Smith said that financial aid is available for the credit classes at the Colville IEL and some classes, like the Running Start classes offered to high school students, do not charge tuition.
“Our college is two-thirds funded by the state and only one-third funded by student tuition, which helps keep things affordable. And federal financial aid, along with loans and grants, are available,” she said. “For our Running Start stu¬dents, all they are looking at is essentially the cost of their books.”
The opportunities provided by the college have paid off for many students, as Smith can relate.
“We have had so many stu¬dents come back and tell us how these programs helped them move closer to their goal. We have had several students go onto doctorate programs or better jobs,” said Smith. “I really can’t think of another job that is as rewarding.”
For more information on the “New Chance” class or non-credit evening classes, call 685-2120.
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