Henrico’s affordable housing trust fund; City’s honorary street signs; Top Five A hard-hit part of Southside Virginia got another blow as forest products giant Georgia-Pacific said Friday that it is closing its plywood mill in Emporia It’s the second major plant closing in less than a year in that part of the state an hour south of Richmond near the North Carolina state line The closing of the Georgia Pacific plant is another blow for Emporia 600 people lost their jobs when Boar’s Head Provision Co 10 miles north of Emporia on Interstate 95 Boar’s Head closed that plant following an outbreak of listeria that caused at least 10 deaths and 60 hospitalizations Many Boar’s Head workers came from Emporia and surrounding Greensville County “Housing affordability challenges and a 30-year low in existing home sales are impacting our plywood business as many of our plywood products are used in repair and remodel projects which often occur when homes change ownership,” Georgia-Pacific said we are reducing our production capacity,” the company added Georgia-Pacific said normal operations at the mill ended Friday when it informed employees of the shutdown The plant will close permanently on July 1 The company said it will provide all affected employees with at least 60 days pay and benefits as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 which requires that much notice of plant closings by large employers Georgia-Pacific said it will work with employees to connect them to local support agencies and job placement resources including available opportunities within Georgia-Pacific or other Koch Industries companies the second-largest privately held firm in the nation is controlled by billionaire Charles Koch and his brother David’s heirs who between then all own more than 80% of the firm Georgia-Pacific employs an additional 650 people at its other Virginia plants: a corrugated cardboard plant in Martinsville a wood panel plant in Campbell County and a containerboard plant in Bedford County 554 employees went to work at the Georgia-Pacific Emporia Plywood mill only to receive word that they are laid off “Georgia-Pacific’s decision to close its Emporia facility by July 1st leaves these workers “My heart goes out to every family who now faces increased anxiety and potential hardship because of these layoffs.” dress@timesdispatch.com State Politics / Growth and Development Reporter Email notifications are only sent once a day A Times-Dispatch investigation has found Virginia state inspectors found three recent violations of food safety rules at the cook tank where B… “Uncertainty is the word of the day,” said Renee Haltom the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Richmond regional executive Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account Women's Track and Field | 5/4/2025 7:48:00 PM Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here — Hundreds of employees at the Georgia-Pacific plywood plant in Emporia are losing their jobs after the facility ceased operations immediately on Friday The company delivered the news to the plant's just over 550 employees during a series of meetings Friday morning and through a letter distributed to workers Georgia-Pacific's director of public affairs "Today we let the employees know at our Emopria Virginia, plywood mill that we are ceasing operations as of today," Kimble said "The employees will continue to get paid and benefits for 60 days after today But for all intents and purposes, the operations have been shut down today." FULL INTERVIEW: Georgia-Pacific official on Emporia plant closure including high home prices and a 30-year low in existing home sales "It's really a combination of several things, mostly surrounding how plywood is used in the market as you probably know, in the house construction and remodeling business," Kimble explained "So plywood right now is unfortunately just at a very low point in the market." Kimble acknowledged that Friday was a "very sad day" for workers and the company "There's a lot of very tenured employees out here that have been in this business," Kimble said "We've been in business and employing here since the late '60s, so some of those employees have been here for a long time." WATCH: Workers react to Georgia-Pacific plywood plant closure in Emporia Some employees may remain on past July 1 to help with the facility shutdown "There'll be a little bit of shipping going on in the next couple of weeks just to get inventory out of the warehouse," Kimble said said some employees realized Thursday that the plant was being shuttered "They found out yesterday, told everybody Brandon Brown said he had worked at the plant for over three years and loved his job as a millwright "It's very unsettling because I have 5 young kids at home," Brown said "You know this was kind of a spur-of-the-moment type thing..." who had only worked at the plant for eight months was thrilled when she was offered a position "I applied for them a couple times, finally got me a call," she recalled "I was driving back and forth from Richmond and I moved back down here from Alexandria." she said she "trained on everything," but then landed on Glue Line One and after 2-3 months was trained on the accumulator.  "A lot of people can't operate it," she said "It's like 3 of us that can operate it. It's easy, but it's a lot of work. And that's where all the money at because we've got to make sure all the panels are good, the glue not leaking." Hinton said her coworkers were "lovely" and likened the scene outside the plant on Friday to a family reunion "Everybody worked together because we was making too much money in a small town for us to affect that," she said "So you see everybody still in the parking lot talking now This is how it was inside a GP. We was the same way as a family and even the managers." Hinton said there were tears on Friday and that she hugged her manager — the man who hired her so I'm gonna sit back and wait," Hinton said they plan something to open up because this is a big mill and they got plenty of money so it was no way — Boar's Head was like that too So I'm gonna sit back and we see the after effect and see what goes on from there." The plant's closure is the second large employer in the area to shutter The troubled Boar’s Head deli meat plant in nearby Jarratt closed in September 2024 The facility stopped production in July after a deadly food poisoning outbreak was linked to meat from the plant Pollick predicted the latest blow would "cripple" Emporia "You just lost Boar's Head and lost GP," Pollick said Kimble said the company had been in contact with state and local leaders "[City] administration officials have offered their 100% support," Kimble said So we'll do everything we can for the employees to make it as seamless as possible." FULL INTERVIEW: Virginia Secretary of Labor on Georgia-Pacific plant closure said he had talked to Georgia-Pacific officials Friday morning "Our Rapid Response team has already been in touch with the City of Emporia and Greensville County," Slater said "We're talking to Southside Virginia Community College, Georgia-Pacific and our Rapid Response team at Virginia Works are connecting." Slater said Georgia-Pacific is going to work closely with the agency to ensure "we can get people job training opportunities, job placement opportunities." While the primary goal is to find new jobs for the workers "as soon as possible," Slater said that the local unemployment office would help people sign up for unemployment and "get them processed very quickly." Slater said the Commonwealth is "committed to trying to find those people jobs in and around that area and work to bring companies into that area to pick up some of that job loss." Georgia-Pacific officials said they would determine the future of the facility and property at a later date."The Virginia Economic Development Partnership is already having conversations to see who could be interested in that facility," Slater said. "I think there's some other explorations going on down there about other types of employment coming into that area." Georgia-Pacific is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue The company has three other plants in Virginia the company said it directly employed 1,150 workers in the Commonwealth which had a population of roughly 5,700 as of the 2020 census and is the county seat of Greensville County is roughly 66 miles and a 1 hour 10-minute drive from Richmond along Interstate 95 This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share. Employees at the Emporia Plywood mill in Emporia, Virginia, were told that Georgia-Pacific will permanently close the plant Normal operations will cease today – and the site will be permanently closed on July 1 Georgia-Pacific will provide all affected employees with at least 60 days’ pay with benefits in accordance with WARN Housing affordability challenges and a 30-year low in existing home sales are impacting our plywood business which often occur when homes change ownership A decision on the facility and property will be made at a later date Georgia-Pacific is committed to treating all Emporia employees with dignity and respect and will work with them to provide access to local support agencies and job placement resources including available opportunities within Georgia-Pacific or other Koch companies © Copyright 2012 - 2023 | citybiz | All Rights Reserved Thanks for visiting Men's Track and Field | 5/3/2025 10:58:00 PM Thanks for visiting Game Recap: Baseball | 5/1/2025 5:44:00 PM Thanks for visiting Match Recap: Women's Tennis | 5/2/2025 7:16:00 PM Thanks for visiting Paper-product manufacturer Georgia-Pacific says it has permanently closed its plywood mill in Emporia In a statement on its website May 2 the Atlanta-based company said it would immediately stop operations at Emporia and shut down the plant July 1 It cited lagging home sales as a main reason for the closing which often occur when homes change ownership,” the company said we are reducing our production capacity.”  The company said it would offer a severance of 60 days of pay with benefits to the affected employees “Georgia-Pacific is committed to treating all Emporia employees with dignity and respect and will work with them to provide access to local support agencies and job placement resources including available opportunities within Georgia-Pacific or other Koch companies,” the statement read A decision has not yet been reached on future plans for the site located on Davis Street in the east side of town The others are a corrugated-container plant in Martinsville a containerboard plant in the town of Big Island in Bedford County and an oriented strand board in the town of Gladys in Campbell County near Lynchburg None of the other Virginia sites were mentioned in the Emporia closing announcement Emporia is located about 40 miles south of Petersburg whose district includes the shuttered plan issued a statement saying her heart “goes out to every family who now faces increased anxiety and potential hardships” because of the closing some effective immediately,” McClellan said in the statement “Georgia-Pacific’s decision to close its Emporia facility by July 1 leaves these workers She added that her office will assist any of the affected employees on job placement and location of support agencies Game Recap: Softball | 4/30/2025 5:21:00 PM Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Game Recap: Softball | 5/1/2025 1:20:00 PM Thanks for visiting Match Recap: Men's Tennis | 4/30/2025 2:05:00 PM Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Your access to this service has been limited If you think you have been blocked in error contact the owner of this site for assistance If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site please enter your email address in the box below and click "Send" You will then receive an email that helps you regain access Wordfence is a security plugin installed on over 5 million WordPress sites The owner of this site is using Wordfence to manage access to their site You can also read the documentation to learn about Wordfence's blocking tools or visit wordfence.com to learn more about Wordfence Click here to learn more: Documentation 6 May 2025 11:02:14 GMT.Your computer's time: document.write(new Date().toUTCString()); Match Recap: Men's Tennis | 4/23/2025 3:48:00 PM Thanks for visiting Game Recap: Softball | 4/26/2025 6:36:00 PM Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Thanks for visiting Game Recap: Softball | 4/19/2025 5:37:00 PM Thanks for visiting