¢ Pictured is Local 1-184 member Keith Martindale, a #1 line trim saw operator at MB’s Aspenite Division in Hudson Bay.

Saskfor joins with MacMillan Bloedel in planning
for new OSB plant and expansion in Hudson Bay

any workers and citizens
of Hudson Bay, Saskat-
chewan are a little more
relieved now that there
are some long term plans
to build a new oriented strand board
plant in the community. For years
there has been speculation as to what

MacMillan Bloedel and the govern-
ment owned Saskatchewan Forest

Products might do about joining up or
buying one another out to get a hold
of timber supply in the northeast re-
gion of the province. -

Now a deal has been struck be-
tween the two companies to merge all
existing operations in Hudson Bay
and Carrot River and build a giant
new oriented strandboard plant in
Hudson Bay. The new amalgamation
will be a 50:50 split and the partner-
ship is currently know as Saskfor Lim-
ited Partnership.

The announcement, which came on
May 1, 1995 ended years of waiting
and wondering about what would
happen. When the community suf-
fered from the closure of the Simpson
Timber Ltd. stud mill in the summer
of 1990, speculation began over what
would happen to Simpson Timber’s
old timber rights. Would MacBlo get a
hold of them or would Saskfor? Then
the recession hit the building prod-
ucts industry in the early 1990’s and
everything was put on hold except ru-
mors about what would happen.

The new partnership plans to turn
sod at the new oriented strandboard
site which is to be built on the old
Simpson Timber mill site, next to the
Saskfor plywood plant. If construc-
tion goes as planned, the new OSB
plant should be built up and running
in about 18 months.

At this time it is believed that it will
create at least 80-100 full-time and se-
cure jobs. The new supermill will
have a 12 foot line and require about 3
times the timber that the current
MacMillan Bloedel Aspenite oriented
strand board plant uses.

That is a concern for the union be-
cause it has questions as to whether
or not there will be enough poplar in
the Hudson Bay region to sustain the
mill well into the future.

“We have been told that there is
enough timber to sustain the new op-
eration for future generations,” says
Dennis Bonville, President of I.W.A.
CANADA Local 1-184. “But we don’t

believe that it can be done without
better forest practices such as refor-
estation and silviculture.”

“With the size of the new mill, peo-
ple are concerned that jobs are being
created for now, but for how many
years?” comments Brother Bonville.

The forests in the Hudson Bay re-
gion are primarily a mixture of
spruce, jack pine and poplar. The
spruce and pine are currently used by
the two. Saskfor operations: a ply-
wood plant in Hudson Bay and a di-
mension sawmill in Carrot River. The
plywood mill normally uses the butt
portion of the log while the rest goes
through the sawmill in Carrot River.

The available forest inventory to
support the softwood requirements
for the Hudson Bay and Carrot River
operations remains an on-going con-
cern for the local union.

At this time there is no word on

how long the MB Aspenite plant in
Hudson Bay will remain open. But as
production at the new mill eventually
comes on line, then plans are to shut
down the old number oné line at As-
penite. That will leave the number
two line running, which is also a four
foot line that is fairly efficient. That
line began production in 1970 and
went through a modernization in 1983.

The old number one line has tech-
nology which goes back to the early
1960’s when the mill was built by the
Saskatchewan government. MB took
over the entire operation in 1964 and
ran it for years with very little techno-
logical upgrading since then.

Workers at the Hudson Bay ply-
wood mill and Carrot River sawmill
have been told that there will be no
change in the employment structure
in those operations. The latest re-
structuring took place over a year ago
at Carrot River when Saskfor put in a

new J-bar system switched over to
producing studs.

There is some concern about the
long-term availability of spruce peel-
ers logs. The company is looking at
possibly using some poplar for the ve-
neer portion of the p! Testing
has gone well and there is hope for a
new product in the future. ‘

“In general, | think that people in
the Hudson Bay area are pleased to
hear what is happening,” says I.W.A.
committee members Ray Dease wh
works at the Aspenite plant and is the
chairman of the union's National Safe-
ty Council. “There was concern that
they might never build a new mill if
another downturn hit the industry and
that the Aspenite mill might have shut
down as well.”

Fortunately the market has been
good for oriented strandboard as it is
operating on a 4 shift, 7 day a week,
24 hour a day basis. For the past two
years it has been operating around the
clock. <

When the new OSB plant is built
there will be collective agreements in
place for each division of the company-

“We'll be operating under the two
collective agreements until at least
the operation begins and then we will
try to negotiate with the Saskfor Lim-
ited Partnership to get one unified col-
lective agreement if possible,” adds
Brother Bonville. i

In the bush operations the union
has a presence on the hardwood side,
and has four contractors under certifi-
cation. They are Palgian and Son Ltd.,
Dyck contracting, Biro Brothers Ltd.
and Leason Contracting.

However the softwood side (spruce
and pine) is exclusively non-union
with various owner-operators that, are
extremely difficult to organize.

A decision to go with the Sask-
for/MB proposal came after years of
waiting. Since the Simpson Timber clo-
sure in 1990 the local union has sat on
the Hudson Bay Forestry Committee
along with community representatives,
company reps and reps from the Rural
Development Corporation of
Saskatchewan in order to search for al-
ternative for employment in the area.

Recently the local has been asked
to sit on anew 14 member committee
know as the Pasquia-Porcupine Forest
Management Advisory Committee
which will examine and make recom-
mendations on the timber supply in
the area and the new formation of a
new Hudson Bay Forest License Man-
agement Agreement. Also included on
the committee are representatives
from Hudson Bay, Carrot River, Na-
tive reps, and environmental groups.

° The Saskfor plywood plant in Hudson Bay should receive a steady supply of logs for production. Pictured are Local 1-
184 members, sheet turner Olivia Kay and core layer Yvonne Bracken.

10/LUMBERWORKER/AUGUST, 1995