[StBernard] Bringing New Jobs to Louisiana

[Westley Annis]

The North Louisiana area has recently lost over 3,000 jobs (closure of paper
mills and poultry processing - and the resulting lost of jobs in the
supporting businesses and public sector) and while the added 300 jobs from
Gardner Denver Thomas are appreciated, they are still deep into this
recession. 
Some have said IF Louisiana could work with WalMart and other such companies
to make a commitment to use paperbags from Louisiana (instead of plastic
bags) that part of the paper mills and timber farmers economics would
resolve. 

According to the Ouachita CITIZEN: 
The decision to consolidate in Monroe will more than quadruple Gardner
Denver's Monroe operations from roughly 70 jobs today to at least 301 by the
end of 2011, including new jobs averaging $37,000 annually plus benefits,
according to Jindal
As part of the incentives package to lure Gardner Denver Thomas here, the
state committed a performance-based grant of up to $9 million for relocation
expenses from the Rapid Response Fund.



---SJK