Around 100 laid-off workers were counted weeks ago by the Arauco company. Contracting companies that provide services to CMPC, meanwhile, added about 700 layoffs in the face of the complexities facing the forestry sector. But in the Region, this is not the only area suffering, as the closure of canning plants in Coronel has strained an industrial fishing industry that has recorded significant drops in landings since January.
The current scenario for workers in the regional industry deepens the negative unemployment indicators. In the March-May 2026 quarter, the unemployment rate reached 9.8%, with 77,737 individuals in this condition. According to specialists, the problem Biobío is experiencing is related to the fact that its productive matrix continues to depend on very sensitive sectors and traditional areas, with a low capacity to generate high-productivity formal employment.
Worst of all, those mainly affected by these measures warn of a lack of commitment from national and regional authorities, perhaps at the level seen when Huachipato announced its closure during the second half of 2024.
The minimum they ask for is the creation of job fairs in their territories.
THE FORESTRY DRAMA
From the contractor sector, which was heavily affected by CMPC's latest decision, they state that the situation is quite critical, although they also understand that the factors have been present for a long time, especially due to the violence in the Southern Macrozone and the low price of wood and raw materials internationally.
The manager of the Association of Forestry Contractors (Acoforag), René Muñoz, points out that all these elements are now reflected in the decrease in job offers, the closure of jobs and activities.
In 10 years, the association counts 4,000 forestry workers who have left the sector and 80 forestry contractors who have decided to seek new horizons, understanding that the conditions offered by the area are not reasonably logical for operating in the Southern Macrozone.
Regarding the recent layoffs, he believes that some workers will migrate to the mining area. "A major competitor for the forestry sector, because our forestry workers are highly specialized," he says.
While another part, the less specialized ones, will experience a harsher environment, "because it is difficult to find work in a specific trade like pruning, planting, fumigation, or land preparation for forestry."
Therefore, he projects that both reinsertion and labor reconversion will be complex while those affected wait for "nothing" or for the sector to reactivate.
"But the conditions are not in place for this area to reactivate (...) and we have had no contact with regional authorities about what is happening," he emphasizes.
José Quiñilén, president of Union 1 of Celulosa Arauco Workers, says that the problem they are experiencing at the company was focused on the restructuring of the Cellulose Production Line 2. He acknowledges, however, that the cellulose business has not been stable or strong in recent years, with international prices trending downward, fires that have burned forests, scarce reforestation, and high fuel costs that make freight more expensive.
Although cellulose continued to lead regional export amounts, recording US$132.6 million last April, this merchandise fell 26.1% in one year. These local INE data also show that forestry shipments have shown constant declines since June 2025.
"In Operations and Maintenance, our institution lost 51 workers, but supervisors and engineering also left, so this considerable number could be around 100," says Quiñilén, while emphasizing that the cellulose worker is a very specific professional and specialist in their area, which complicates the situation, since there are no more cellulose plants than those owned by Arauco and CMPC.
"They have knowledge in industrial plants, but it's hard to reinvent themselves. We had little time to react, although we were able to talk to the company and achieve a slightly improved exit for the people, with something more than what is legally established, and we hope that helps people reinvent themselves, start a business, or sustain themselves while they look for another job (...). However, we have some colleagues who are completely disoriented, because this company gave them a stability that prevented them from making outside contacts or seeing a new branch to develop in," he states.
The union leader even illustrates that some workers do not even know how to write a resume because they never needed one. For him, there is also a disadvantage related to the remoteness of the Arauco Province and the centralism that prevents promoting reconversion or reinsertion initiatives, such as job fairs in that area or subsidies.
"This has not gained the strength or dimension that Huachipato had at the time, even though in the last two years the forestry sector has lost nearly 2,000 jobs."
STRAINED FISHING INDUSTRY
Although workers in the Biobío industrial fishing industry say they are not experiencing a crisis like the one in the forestry sector, they affirm that current conditions do strain an area that has been characterized by employing homemakers.
From the Federation of Unions of Workers of the Fishing Industry (Fesip) of Biobío, they state that the year started badly due to the low availability of resources, a situation that led some processing plants in Biobío to reach 50% of their capacity. The industry is still not catching what is usual for this time of year, they specify.
Robinson Cárcamo, president of the federation, points out that at least the situation has improved and that the industrial fleet has been arriving with good catches for two weeks.
"For some time now, some canning plants have closed, as the resource issue had been faltering for a while (...). They are temporarily closed and that affected about 300 people, mostly women from Coronel and the Camanchaca plant; FoodCorp also closed, but much earlier," he says.
As a federation, they question that no one cares when these layoffs happen at the processing plants; that is, they are paid their severance and then they go to work at street markets to sell clothes or shoes, "an issue that increases informality, which is at its peak."
"When women leave the plant, they don't go sit at home; they look for an immediate alternative because most are heads of household and cannot afford to be without work," insists Cárcamo.
The complexities of the forestry and industrial fishing sectors are closely monitored by the Regional Employment Defense Table, from where they have monitored and maintained meetings with union organizations, starting with the departure of two complete shifts from the fishing company Blumar due to the processing of jack mackerel.
"Although these departures were agreed with the company, in dialogue with the workers and with an improvement in the exits, at the end of the day they are still layoffs. There we have the hope that the jack mackerel will return to the coasts of Biobío," says the spokesperson for the group, Iván Montes.
On the forestry side, the representative says the crisis is more complex, especially due to the withdrawal of investments by Arauco and CMPC.
"700 people were laid off from CMPC, and in Mininco there were 400 more layoffs during March, while Arauco also counted 300 layoffs nationwide. In the last two years alone, between CMPC and Arauco, there are around 2,000 fewer jobs in the Region, whether contractors or own workers," laments Montes.
In the post-layoff period, unions usually accompany workers on the legal side due to the generation of labor lawsuits. They have also had the opportunity to negotiate better exits or relocation in the most auspicious cases, as happened with Union 1 of Celulosa Arauco.
"However, in general, these workers end up swelling the ranks of unemployment and the job relocation processes are quite slow. Huachipato, for example, had highly skilled profiles that still have not been relocated, given that the economy currently does not generate sources of employment," he emphasizes.
Report byDiario El Sur
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