Georgetown County rallies together to help International Paper Mill employees

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCBD) – State and local leaders met to discuss the next steps for the International Paper Mill’s employees on Monday.

The International Paper Mill announced they are closing down the plant in Georgetown by the end of this year. This is expected to impact nearly 700 employees.

Georgetown County said their first priority is working on getting the mill’s workers new employment.

“We’re focusing on people right now, we’re working on re-employment opportunities,” Jackie Broach, public information officer of Georgetown County, said. “Of course there are effects beyond the people who have lost their jobs, and that’s significant – there were about 700 of them, but they also have families who work for other employers. Some of them are our employees, some of them are from the school district, some of them work for Tidelands. We’re wanting to keep these people in our community.”

In an effort to offset the hit the local economy is expected to feel next year, local businesses are looking to hire the mill’s workers. Currently, Tidelands Health has around 200 jobs open that require either a high school diploma or an associate’s degree.

“Some of these positions are easy to transition from their industrial background into healthcare,” Jeremy Stephens, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Tidelands Health, said. “I know that might seem a little intimidating, but I spent 15 years in manufacturing, and I work in healthcare now, it can be done. So, we want to help them understand what types of positions we have, what the requirements are, and then we really want to partner with Horry-Georgetown Technical College to do some training.”

The college is offering free classes for people to get an associate’s degree, which is also in partnership with Tidelands Health. The company is open to working with those employees, who may be interested, to learn new skills.

However, healthcare is not the only option. Many of the businesses around Georgetown asked to be included in the upcoming job fair.

“We have lot of employers who have reached out with offers like that. They want to absorb some of these employees, people who have been loyal employees for many years. Again, we really just don’t want to lose these families, we want them to be able to stay here in Georgetown County and continue to be valuable members of our family.”

This week, SC Works will be at the mill working with employees to update their resumes and job search skills. On Nov. 21 and 22, the job fair is expected to be held at the Howard Center.