Brothers and Sisters,
Today at 10 a.m myself along with Gary Feige and Al Keuber attended a meeting with the CEO of the company Brian Barda and the VP Stu Gibson. At the meeting we were told that both the Kraft side and the paper side were going to be curtailed for 30 days starting March 1st. This will effect the majority of our membership in both maintenance and operations as most of us will be facing a layoff for that time.
This curtailment is due to the lack of fibre supply. We were told even if Western Forest Products start up next week, it would still take sometime for our mill to receive chips. Foreshores and Chip Supply will operate with reduced crews and the Steam plant will have 2 workers per shift during the curtailment.
There is no planned maintenance during the curtailment as well. This however isn’t written in stone as mangers and planners will have a meeting to discuss if more of our membership is needed in other areas. The company told us that they intend to have maintenance on the #4Power Boiler. Gary Feige asked therm to not use contractors and to let our maintenance crews do the work. The company agreed. This includes hatch watch and gas sniffers as well.
The news wasn’t all bleak. They told us that the company wants to make pulp and that they will be investing into the mill and into its future. For those of you that have no vacation time to use, you will be able to file a claim for EI.
If any of you have a questions please feel free to contact me, Al Kueber or Gary Feige.
In Solidarity,
Chris Wipplinger
First Vice President Ops
