Standing in the Big River sawmill and planing facility are l. to r. plant chair Ken Buckingham, and committee members Clarence Proulx, Jeff

Neufeldt and Barry Fabish.

Saskatchewan mills take down time

Like in many other parts of the
forest industry economy, union
members in Saskatchewan have
been facing uncertain times. On
October 17 Weyerhaeuser
announced that both of its sawmills
in the province would be producing
less lumber before the end of the

ear.

The Big River sawmill and the
Carrot River stud mill are reducing
production by 14 million and 5
million board feet, respectively.

Weyerhaeuser cited low lumber
prices, and market uncertainty
among its reasons for the reduced
production and said it needs to
balance inventory with orders. It
also pointed to the countervailing
duty imposed by the United States
and anti-dumping charges as
important factors.

There are about 180 I.W.A.
Canada Local 1-184 members
employed in Big River while there
are 112 union workers employed in
Carrot River.

“These curtailments are not the
kind of things we want to see but I
think our union committees and
members are handling it well,” said
local union president Paul Hallen.
“There’s a great deal of uncertainty
in the air over where Saskatchewan
and the rest of Canada stand on the
softwood lumber issue with the
United States.”

Saskatchewan was one of the six
provinces exempted from the five
year Canada - U.S. Softwood Lumber
Quota Agreement which expired at
the end of March 2001. It is now
being nailed by both the CVD and
anti-dumping like most other
provinces in the country.

The new Big River sawmill, which
opened in March and April of 2001
— lead by the planer first ,t has
been ramping up production and is
experiencing growing pains as a
result,

The base of the membership there
has considerable sawmilling
experience, said Brother Hallen.

lew employees are being trained

and the start-up of a third shift in
the planer is being delayed until
2002, pending lumber market
recovery.

“They are working some people
together for training purposes and
are correcting production procedures
in the operation, many times using
people in different capacities,” added
Halen.

The management and workers
have straightened problems out in
the planer and are now
concentrating on other parts of the
operation, trying to get up to speed.

Plant chairman Kent
Buckingham, who serves on the
plant committee with first vicechair
Clarence Proulx, second vicechair
Jeff Neufeldt, and secretary-
treasurer Barry Fabish, told the
Lumberworker that all of the U.S.
trade actions and market
uncertainty will contribute to a
delay in the third shift.

But he also says the company
hasn’t really laid anybody off yet. In

° At the Carrot River mill, pictured in July 1996, was stacker operator Jeff
Trombley, member of I.W.A. Local 1-184.

16/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 2001

fact, there has been a few hires
lately to fill vacancies.

He said that the third shift at the
planer should come on line next
year if certain production levels are
met. So due to those start-up
problems, the mill is hovering at
around 40% of production capacity)

“Earlier this year we basically
walked out of the old Big River
Sawmill and planer, which are built
on the same site, and went to the
new mill and planer which are
contained under on roof,” said
Brother Buckingham.

At the smaller Carrot River
operation, which is a single line
stud mill with two ring debarkers
(12” and 17”) and a chip and saw,
which feeds into 7 bins, the union
has negotiated a Monday to
Thursday work week to use up the
13 days by the end of the year.

“In our operation we wanted to
get started on the four day work
week right away to get enough
Fridays to do it by the end of the

year,” said plant chairman Tom

‘Johnson in an interview with the

Lumberworker.

Brother Johnson, an oilerman by;
trade, serves on the committee wit
Matt Hryehuk, Stan Leffler and
Roger Pomeray, said the
recommendation to go for a four day
work week went over well.

“Then we are there, on the job,
keeping in communication with each
other rather than being at home,”
he said. .

The operation produces about
400,000 board feet of finished studs
a day. Sometimes they run 2 shifts
in both the planer and mill parts.
When the planer catches up, then
they will cut one shift and move it
over to the mill.

Brother Johnson noted that the
mill runs more efficiently when it
stays away from wood that is dry.

He said that as long as it runs
green wood, it can meet and exceed
production targets by as much as
25%.

“We’ve stressed that to the
com: aa on numerous occasions,”
he chs i

CONCERNS OVER TIMBER SUPPLY

Earlier this year Weyerhaeuser
planned to complete a wood fibre
optimization study by the end of
October. The deadline for its
completion has been moved into the
first quarter of 2002.

“We hope, that after the
opus study is put into place,
there will be an adequate supply of
wood and wood types to go to each
of our operations,” said Brother

en.

But he points out that the terms
of reference for the fibre optimization
study do not really look at the total
inventory in the wood basket that is
already out there in the Big River,
Carrot River and Hudson Bay areas.

The local is also certified to two
Weyco OSB plants and a plywood

continued on page nineteen

Photo courtesy LW.A, Local 1-164