Part II in a Global Company's North American Restructuring
Following the restructuring of its largest U.S. facility, UPM North America turned its attention to its largest Canadian facility, which was losing substantial amounts of money.
For a variety of reasons specific to this facility – including the company's decision to close a portion of the facility that employed about one-third of the site's employees – the communications program was much more proactive than it had been in the United States, and required more planning. For example, on the day of the closure announcement, the company oversaw an intricate, minute-by-minute communications program, in which company officials communicated news of the closure personally to union executives, non-union employees, local, regional and federal politicians and local and regional business and community leaders. The centerpiece was a news conference, which was covered by more than a dozen media outlets from the local, regional and national levels.
Please click the icon below to access an overview of the communications program. (Please note that there's a slight hesitation at the beginning of the recording, but it's in a format that should play on virtually all computers.)
