Stacyville man seeks parity in aid to jobless

STACYVILLE – Leon Robinson has found himself out of work again. In April 1999 he was one of scores of people who lost their jobs when Sherman Lumber Co. closed its doors after more than 100 years.

A filer at the mill, Robinson was able return to work in early 2000 when the company’s chipping operation started up again to supply chips to Great Northern Paper Inc. mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket. But in late December, the chipping operation shut down permanently, a reflection of the problems at GNP.

What frustrates Robinson, 63, a selectman in Stacyville, is that people who recently lost their jobs at Sherman Lumber haven’t received the same help from the state that GNP employees are getting.

The demise of Sherman Lumber was due in part to problems at Great Northern, he said.

Robinson said GNP employees were given a 30-day extension before they had to look for work, but the same offer was never extended to Sherman Lumber workers. “People losing their jobs in Sherman is just as important as in Millinocket,” Robinson said Wednesday.

While he doesn’t begrudge GNP employees any benefits they receive, he said the same offers should be extended to Sherman Lumber workers.

“It just seemed like we weren’t big enough,” he said.

“Eleven hundred [employees] is big news,” he said. “Twelve to 14 isn’t as big, but [they] are trying to make a living the same as those [GNP] fellas.”

Last December, workers laid off by Sherman Lumber Co. became eligible for retraining assistance under federal standards for secondarily affected worker groups. The adjustment assistance covers job training and related expenses for workers laid off due to foreign competition. That helps, but Robinson said it isn’t enough, especially for workers in their 50s and 60s or young people who want to stay in the area.

Jobs in the Stacyville area are hard to come by, he said.

“As far as I know, there’s zero [jobs,] and when I say zero, I mean zero,” he said.

With GNP not producing, Robinson said it’s important that everyone who has lost a job get the same treatment. “I’m getting by, but we’re all in the same mess: Patten, Sherman and Millinocket,” he said. “Until they get a buyer [for GNP], we’re all in the same stew.”