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137 jobs lost Woman hurt, hydro lines downed in crash Curwood Packaging to close in March A Georgetown company is closing its doors after 37 years in business putting 137 people out of work. Employees at Curwood Packaging Ltd. on Armstrong Ave. were told by company officials Wednesday morning their plant would be closing by the end of March. Curwood Inc. of Oshkosh, Wisconsin (the Georgetown company's head office) also announced the closure of the local facility in a press release issued that day. Steward for the 91 plant employees at the Georgetown company who will be losing their jobs, Mark Hancock of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, Local 591G, said both salaried and unionized employees at the plant were stunned by the news that "came right out of the blue." "This is devastating for the employees, most of whom have been with the company a long time, and we were shocked to learn that the company has not even considered options to keep the plant open," said Hancock. Curwood spokesperson Melanie Miller, of Bemis Co. Inc., Curwood's parent company, said the Georgetown plant, which makes flexible packaging for cheese, condiments and confectionaries, would cease production of all products by the end of March 2006. She said no firm date for the closure was available at press time. "Business currently produced in Georgetown will be transferred to other Curwood production facilities," said Miller. The Georgetown location is the sole Curwood facility in Canada, with several other plants in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. A woman received non-life threatening injuries in this single-vehicle accident on 10 Sideroad at approximately 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Halton Police report the vehicle left the road striking a hydro pole, breaking it in two. The pole fell onto the road that was closed for two hours while police investigated the accident, and a Halton Hills Hydro crew removed the broken pole replacing it with a new one. At left, the vehicle ended up overturned in the ditch. The driver was taken by ambulance to Georgetown Hospital. Power was out in the area for several hours. The accident is still under investigation. Photos by John Glass