Closure, layoffs hit

HERE is a saying that when
your neighbour is out of work
it’s a recession, but when
you're out of work it’s a de-
pression.
Well the depression has hit
with full force here in Hudson Bay, a
town of 2,500 about 250 miles north of
Regina. Over 900 people who directly
depend on the forest industry for their
livelihood in this part’ of northern
Saskatchewan have been put out of
work in the biggest turn around that
the area has ever seen.

In early June, Simpson Timber
Company, a Seattle-based forest
company, pulled the plug on 165 IWA
-CANADA Local 1-184 workers in a
permanent closure of its sawmill.
Another 400-450 loggers who supply
for Simpson were also tossed out of
work because of the shutdown.

At MacMillan Bloedel’s Aspenite
Division 125 Local unionists were laid
off for an indefinite period of time in
early June. The company cited poor
markets and the rising Canadian dol-
lar as culprits in the closure.

The last of the major operations to
shutdown was the government owned
Saskatchewan Forest Products (Sask-
for). It also closed for an indefinite
period earlier this month due to poor
market conditions, throwing 160
union workers out on to the street.

No doubt rising interest rates anda
slump in North American housing
starts have caused partial problems,
but the reasons for the depression in
Hudson Bay are much greater.

The Saskatchewan government has
done nothing but sit on its hands ina
secretive fashion while the uncer-
tainty over life in forestry has esca-
lated.

Simpson Timber was crying short-
age of timber after enjoying a 20 year
sweetheart deal on stumpage that, in

Electrician Ken Keyowski (I.) and indus-
trial machinist Ray Ricard were among
few workers doing maintenance job dur-
ing MB's indefinite shutdown.

recent years, gave the companies some
$30 million a year in annual revenues.

The IWA tried to get to the bottom
of the timber supply problem but was
turned away by an arrogant, incompe-
tent ministry of forests.

“We tried to get information out of
the government and were shocked to
find out that it had no idea what the
timber base was in this (northeast)
region of the province,” says Gord
Low, sub-local chairman at Simpson
and second vice-president of the
Local.

Local president Dennis Bonville
says Simpson could have continued to
operate for a longer number of years
with at least a downscaled version of
the sawmill.

During the last couple of years
Simpson was overcutting and over-

producing on its normal annual cut of

215,000 cords.

¢ Out of a job and out on the main street in Hudson Bay are eight of the 165 workers
from the Simpson Timber pullout. L. to r. are Otis Flesjer, Don Aasen, Garry Dobrinski,
Allan Poitras, Gord Low, Dale LeBlue, Walter Storoschuk, and Kelvin Pahlke.

Even Saskatchewan Forest Associ-
ation President Andrea Anderson said
to a Prince Albert newspaper that
“What happened in the Simpson case
was probably overcutting because the
government and the industry wasn’t
really sure what was out there.”

Such negligent attitudes by gov-
ernment and industry have meant
that workers and their families have
to uproot themselves. To date more
than 20 families have left Hudson Bay
for good.

Many plant workers have been sep-
arated from their families and have
travelled to Alberta, Manitoba, and
other parts of Saskatchewan in search
of employment.

“People are starting to pull out,”
says Pat Schultz a member of the
union negotiating committee at Sask-
for. “They're not necessarily waiting
around to see what the government is
going to do to save the town.”

In the first weeks of layoff, signs of
the strain are starting to show on the
community. Fortunately a facility to
assist employees and their families
have been set up with the participa-
tion of the provincial government,
industry, and the IWA.

MacMillan Bloedel won’t say when
it will get back to work. But the
company has made it no secret that it
is interested in obtaining Simpson’s
timber rights in the province’s north-
east region and a company proposal
to the government remains to be
brought out into the public.

Local President Bonville says, “we
believe everything connected to Hud-.
son Bay right now will be dictated by
political decisions, either made by the
companies, or local politicians or
other powers that be.”

MacMillan Bloedel employs 50
union loggers in its bush operations

which utilize poplar, a fast growing
hardwood that should be in perpetual
supply if proper forest management is
practised. Two years ago the provin-
cial government floated MacMillan
Bloedel a $2 million corporate welfare
loan to modernize its waferboard plant
which was built 30 years ago.

But there is no word on further
modernization says Ray Ricard, sub-
local job steward and industrial
mechanic.

It was over 8 years ago that Mac-
Millan Bloedel spent a few bucks mod-
ernizing its wood room and trimsaw
but its press capacity remains far

Hudson Ba

behind its competitors in both Can-
ada and the U.S.

SIMILAR story exists at
Saskatchewan Forest Produ
Plywood mill in a to a
union members recent ted

to reluctantly accept a two year deal
with the crown corporation before the
indefinite closure.

The survival of Saskfor is a key to
the survival of the town. Several work-
ers who lost their jobs at Simpson wil]
be able to remain in the town if their
spouses can keep working at the ply-
wood plant.

“We're in desperate straits here,”
says plant chairman Barry Kocay,
“The whole economic base of this
community has fallen out from
beneath us.”

The plywood plant, which began
operation in 1973, relied on peeler logs
from Simpson's bush workers, to
operate.

The two plants are adjacent
other. Should the plywoo ant
resume operations then the log por-
tions other than the peeler length will

© Casting a ballot during a ratification
plywood operation voted to reluctantly :
layoff.

A

7%

© Loaders and forklifts lined up for auction in mid-June at Simpson Timber. Up to 600

the company pulled out.

8/LUMBERWORKER/JULY, 1990

Seas