A drop in demand for Sappi Fine Paper products is leading to layoffs in the Westbrook mill in the coming months.

Sappi announced that 19 positions will be temporarily eliminated over the next several months. This is in addition to the nine employees who were laid off in November and December.

“With the current economic climate, like many Maine businesses, Sappi Fine Paper North America’s Westbrook Mill is experiencing a change in demand for its products,” said Donna Cassese, the plant’s managing director.

The product is release paper used in the fashion and automobile industries to create textured surfaces on everything from handbags to dashboards.

Ron Rondeau, vice president of United Steel Workers Local 1069, said demand for the release paper increased last year, so the company hired more employees in order to operate some of the machines “seven days a week, around the clock.”

Only recently, Rondeau said, has the company experienced a significant drop in orders, which has led Sappi to shut down some machines for a week or two at a time, putting the people who operate those machines out of work, as well.

“We had a very good year last year,” Rondeau said. Now,

because of the state of the economy as a whole, he said, “there’s a little more anxiety out there.”

According to the Maine Department of Labor, there were 58,700 manufacturing jobs in the state as of November 2008 – down 800 jobs from the same time last year. The department projects manufacturing will lose about 6,300 more jobs by 2016.

The state’s unemployment rate is catching up to the national average. Maine’s rate increased from 5.7 percent in October 2008 to 6.3 percent in November, while the national rate jumped just 0.2 percent in that time period, from 6.5 percent to 6.7 percent. The unemployment rate in both the state and the nation was 4.9 percent in November 2007.

According to the Maine Pulp & Paper Association, the pulp and paper industry is the largest manufacturing industry in the state and its workers are paid the highest reported manufacturing average wage in Maine, at $58,000.

Cassese said the layoffs at Sappi won’t take affect right away, because the company will need to train employees in new positions. The Westbrook mill currently has 330 employees, and Sappi Fine Paper North America employs 2,660 people altogether.

“The Westbrook mill understands that these are difficult times

and we are working diligently to stay competitive in the paper industry,” said Cassese.

According to Rondeau, some senior employees were offered modest retirement packages, which will save the jobs of some younger employees if they decide to take them.

“There’s going to be a lot of movement throughout the mill,” he said.