Anxiety stirred anew today among employees of the sprawling MeadWestvaco paper mill in Covington after the global corporation announced plans to close or restructure 12 to 14 of its manufacturing facilities and to layoff about 10 percent of its world-wide workforce of 22,000.

MeadWestvaco spokeswoman Alison von Puschendorf said the company is in the process of identifying where the restructurings or closings will occur.

MeadWestvaco’s operation in Covington is the largest employer and taxpayer for the city and for Alleghany County. Its closing would have far-reaching impacts on the economy of the Alleghany Highlands. Von Puschendorf said the plant employs nearly 1,400 people.

MeadWestvaco’s corporate office in Richmond also announced today plans to lay off 2,000 employees company wide by the end of 2009.

These actions are among other efforts to control costs in the midst of challenging economic conditions, MeadWestvaco said.

Although the company did not immediately identify which manufacturing plants are targeted, the 12 to 14 figure includes already announced closings in North Carolina and The Netherlands and workforce reductions in Sidney, N.Y.

Parts of the Covington mill are quite old and MeadWestvaco has expressed concerns about rising maintenance costs there. But union officials have long said the factory is one of MeadWestvaco’s best and most profitable producers and houses some state-of-the-art papermaking machines.

“Although it is an older mill, we do have modern equipment,” said Roy Hall, president of Covington Paperworkers Union Local 675.

“The Covington plant has some of the most modern machines in the country or the world,” Hall said.

Company spokeswoman Von Puschendorf would neither confirm nor deny observations about the plant’s productivity and profitability. She added, though, that “age is not a consideration” and said that the Covington mill “is certainly one of our key mills.”

Most hourly workers at the paper mill are represented by unions, including the United Steelworkers Local 8-675 and CPU Local 675. The two unions split last year after prolonged and sometimes bitter negotiations with MeadWestvaco failed to nail down a labor contract.

Bobby Harrison is president of USW Local 8-675.

Both Hall and Harrison acknowledged this morning that the corporate announcement has stirred anxiety in the ranks and talk of recombining the unions in a concerted effort to negotiate a contract with MeadWestvaco.

As to the possible closing or restructuring of the plant, Harrison said the Covington mill is “still a top producer” of paper products used for packaging.

He said it’s time for the USW and CPU locals to come together and work to resolve contract disputes.