BATON ROUGE, LA — January 10, 2019 — A coalition of state and local stakeholders met this afternoon regarding today’s layoff of 650 employees at the communications paper division of the Port Hudson Georgia Pacific plant.

A representative from Georgia Pacific briefed the coalition on the anticipated timeline for the phased transition, expected to conclude by late March.

The priority at this time is helping affected employees identify employment in commensurate positions. Beginning next week, the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) will work in conjunction with Georgia Pacific to brief employees through Rapid Response orientations on re-employment, retraining, and support services to which they are entitled.

LWC and the City-Parish will closely align throughout the process to ensure that affected employees have every possible opportunity to successfully transition into gainful employment.

Stakeholders engaged in the process include the Office of the Mayor-President, Employ BR, the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, and Louisiana Economic Development. Elected officials including Councilman Trae Welch, Zachary Mayor David Amrhein, Baker Mayor Darnell Waites, State Senator Regina Barrow, State Senator Rick Ward, State Representative Barbara Carpenter, and State Representative Edmond Jordan were also in attendance.

In the wake of this morning’s unfortunate news, I am encouraged by the swift response by our economic development and workforce partners, and I am confident that we will collectively and effectively come to the aid of those impacted by today’s layoffs.