On April 4 more than 300 Georgia-Pacific workers in Old Town were laid off. Why? Was it because they made the company more than $50 million last year? Or maybe it was because all of the employees were a great bunch of workers? Please, there was no good reason behind the firing of all of these wonderful workers.

My mom has worked at the mill in Old Town for 25 years, and what does she get in return? She may get severance pay, but is that worth 25 years of hard work?

The thing that outraged me the most was that no one had a clue about what was going to happen. They were all called into a meeting where they were told they would not come back to work. No one at the mill saw it coming, they caught the workers off guard.

What will happen to the workers now that they are unemployed? Some families rely on that one paycheck a week, what about them? What kind of job opportunities will be available to them? This shocking event is only going to hurt our entire community and economy. Is this going to be the start of a chain of events in Old Town?

G-P owners are being selfish. Why don’t they sell the mill to somebody else? Are they afraid that if they do, they will only create competition for themselves?

Hundreds of workers did not deserve the loss of their jobs. The whole situation is unfair and will have a great impact on the workers and their families. What kind of people were running this mill?

Danielle Young

Age 15

Alton