Laid off from Smurfit Westrock.

What Smurfit Westrock layoffs have meant for employees

Smurfit Westrock's executives have framed its closings since the 2024 merger as one program. On its October 2025 earnings call, chief executive Tony Smurfit counted nine since Smurfit Kappa bought WestRock, described them as part of footprint and headcount optimization and said the company would keep "closing down inefficient or loss-making operations," in remarks Packaging Dive reported the same day. When the company announced its two mill closings in April 2025, he said the decision rested on "a realistic expectation of current and future capacity needs, operating costs" and a drive to improve the business, according to its April 2025 release. Over 2025 as a whole it closed about 600,000 tons of what it called high-cost or inefficient capacity, its February 2026 results said.

In some closings the company has said the work would carry on at other plants. Removing aging or underperforming assets and shifting production capacity to other facilities is how Packaging Dive's Wakefield report sums up the strategy, and a spokesperson said Wakefield's capacity would move to other company locations. It also disclosed plans, Packaging Dive reported in October 2025, to invest nearly $19.3 million expanding its corrugated operations in Saltillo, Mississippi. A closing announcement hasn't always ended every job at an address, either. At Forney, the company said the specialty coating operation on the same site wouldn't be affected by the end of containerboard production. Beyond severance, the April 2025 release said the company would provide career transition help and relocation "where possible." Bridgeview's workers could apply for open positions at the company, according to a March 2025 roundup. If your plant is closing, you could check whether Smurfit Westrock has openings at its other plants, and if relocating comes up, the pay, shift and commute there are part of weighing it against leaving.

Across every restructuring action worldwide, severance charges in the company's 2025 Annual Report came to $82 million in 2025, its first full year as one company, against $16 million in 2024. North American restructuring costs, severance and otherwise, came to $74 million in 2025, up from $13 million the year before. Its June 2026 quarterly report added another $43 million in severance charges for the first six months of 2026. Separately, the company expected $34 million more in restructuring charges of all types, not severance alone, for the April 2025 closings through 2026. The North American headcount reduction alone, Packaging Dive reported in March 2026, had passed 4,600. Those severance figures are company totals worldwide, so they say what the company booked, not what any one person was paid.

Union coverage has differed from plant to plant as well. Most of the company's union members in the US are represented by the United Steelworkers, according to the same annual report, but the closings since 2025 have reached plants with other unions and one with none. District Council 2 of the Printing, Packaging & Production Workers Union represented some of Portland's workers, according to NW Labor Press, Wakefield had workers in two unions and only the Teamsters struck, and the Lebanon, Tennessee plant had no union contract, according to Tennessee's memo. A union hasn't guaranteed bumping rights, either. City of Industry's hourly workers were represented by District Council 2, and its notice still ruled bumping out, as Lebanon's did.

Lebanon's notice brought in the state, too. The same memo says Tennessee notified a regional rapid response team, run by Workforce Essentials, to coordinate help for the plant's workers. Smurfit Westrock's notices since 2025 came from seven states, by our WARN tracker's count. If your job was at a plant in one of them, the unemployment benefits pages for California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas lay out filing a claim in each state.

A sourced history of Smurfit Westrock layoffs

• June 2026, Lebanon, Tennessee plant closing

  Smurfit Westrock notified Tennessee's labor department of a permanent closure of its Lebanon plant on Hartman Drive, effective August 14, 2026, for 52 workers, none of them represented under a union contract.

• March 2026, Wakefield, Massachusetts plant closing

  Smurfit Westrock planned to close its Wakefield corrugated converting plant, laying off 91 people over two weeks from May 18, under a March 18 notice Packaging Dive described. Teamsters Local 3 members struck the day their contract ended, March 23.

• November 2025, Atlanta food service plant closing

  Smurfit Westrock set its Atlanta food service packaging plant to close around January 5, 2026, with 55 permanent layoffs, in a November 10 notice to Georgia; a spokesperson told Packaging Dive production would move to an improved company plant.

• October 2025, City of Industry, California plant closing

  Smurfit Westrock set December 14 for closing its City of Industry corrugated sheet and box plant, terminating all 141 employees with no bumping rights, in a WARN letter California shared with Packaging Dive. District Council 2 represented its hourly workers.

• August 2025, Cedar Rapids, Iowa plant closing

  Smurfit Westrock announced in August, according to a later Packaging Dive report, that it would close a corrugated packaging plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with 100 layoffs scheduled for October.

• April 2025, St. Paul and Forney mill closings

  Smurfit Westrock said in an April 30 release it would close its St. Paul, Minnesota recycled board mill, end containerboard production at Forney, Texas, and seek to close two German plants, affecting about 650 employees. Production ended at Forney in May and St. Paul in June, the company said in its 2025 Annual Report.

• April 2025, Portland, Oregon plant closing

  Smurfit Westrock's April 8 filing to Oregon for its Portland plant listed 72 jobs, according to our WARN tracker, and NW Labor Press reported those June layoffs as the first phase of closing the plant.

• January 2025, Bridgeview, Illinois container plant closing

  A January 28 filing to close the Bridgeview plant listed 88 jobs in our WARN tracker, and Illinois' report marked a union and bumping rights. Workers were to get outplacement help and production was to go to other Great Lakes plants, according to a Packaging Dive roundup.

What to do if you're laid off from Smurfit Westrock

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Smurfit Westrock's biggest hubs: Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Smurfit Westrock's hub states run: Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.