One of Chehalis’ oldest and most prominent employers will shed 60 jobs in about a week due to the slowdown in construction.

    Cascade Hardwoods announced its plans to employees on Wednesday. Company President Lindsay Crawford said they made the decision to put the 60 workers on “indefinite lay-off status” after coming to the conclusion that market conditions will continue to struggle throughout 2010. 

    “Continued poor economic conditions have made it difficult for us to sell production and reduce inventory levels over the past few months,” Crawford said in a letter to employees. “Unfortunately we do not expect to see improvement in the overall economy until 2010, and since our markets lag the general economy, market improvements are not expected for at least 12 months.”

    The Chehalis mill had been running on two partial shifts for the past 10 months, hoping an industry that is running at “1944 levels” would bounce back. But it never did, and eliminating positions was the best option the company saw to “continue a viable business and maintain current pay and benefit levels for our remaining employees,” Crawford said.

    More than 120 employees are expected to remain with the company after the round of layoffs, and the second shift is expected to be brought back “as soon as market conditions allow,” Crawford said.

    Employees who were laid off will have an opportunity to take part in a government program that will continue their health benefits starting in September, and would be paid out for any unused vacation time, the letter to employees read.

    The company founded in 1961 provides alder, ash and maple hardwood lumber to be used for furniture and cabinet industries, according to the company’s Web site.

    With about 220 employees in 2008, it was considered one of the top 15 Lewis County employers that year.