The Ven-Rez plant in Shelburne makes school and institutional furniture. (www.ven-rez.com)

The majority of the workforce at the Ven-Rez plant in Shelburne will be laid off in December in what the company is calling a temporary move.

Between 35 and 40 employees at Ven-Rez will be laid off for a month starting Dec. 1.

The company, which makes school and institutional furniture, has 55 employees and is owned by the Shaw Group.

Michael Kontak, a spokesman for the Shaw Group, said a decline in demand and the high value of the Canadian dollar are to blame.

"This is being geared toward a correction. The order book is low. This is an opportunity to slow down and make some corrections in the volume of product that we have," he told CBC News on Tuesday.

"This is purely what we see as a temporary issue."

Kontak said the Shaw Group has made investments in Ven-Rez in the last 12 to 18 months, including the purchase of new equipment as recently as last week.

"It's not our intention to do anything but to grow the business in Shelburne. We have no other options," he said.

"We've just expanded the size of the plant and we've just put new equipment there so we are committed to that location and to the business."

Ven-Rez has been in business for more than 60 years.