Bad Economic News - City of Williams Lake

In a sign of the times, this is from the Williams Lake Tribune:

Tolko Industries Ltd. will be closing its doors at seven of its mills in B.C., including all three in Williams Lake and one in Quesnel.

Curtailments at the Creekside, Lakeview Lumber, Quest Wood, and Soda Creek operations will remain in effect until the market situation allows the company to resume production.

Bob Hicks, an officer with the United Steelworkers Local 1-425, says an estimated 650 workers in Williams Lake will be affected.

Tolko says about 1,300 employees in total are affected by all seven curtailments.

Curtailments at the Armstrong, Lavington, and High Level are scheduled to last for two weeks.

All curtailments will begin Feb. 9.

"Market conditions for our softwood lumber products continue to be the worst Tolko has seen in its 52-year history," says Mike Harkies, Tolko's vice president and general manager of Solid Wood and Kraft Papers. "This decision is difficult and unfortunate but we must take steps to match our production level to market demand."

The curtailments at the four Cariboo operations will reduce Tolko's lumber production by 18.5 million board feet for every week of downtime. The two-week curtailments at the other three mills will reduce Tolko's lumber production by an additional 68 million board feet.

Related woodlands activities are being adjusted accordingly, the company says.

"This announcement does not reflect the performance of our employees," Harkies says. "We appreciate their efforts and understanding while we work to manage our business through this difficult period. We will work hard to ensure that we continue to meet our loyal customers' product needs."

The Tribune hasn't yet reached Rob Fraser, general manager of Tolko's Cariboo and Alberta lumber division, for comment.

Cariboo South MLA Charlie Wyse says the effect of layoffs, reduced work weeks, and shutdowns continue to be devasting to the community.

“The immediate concern here is the employees directly affected,” he says. “As these direct jobs tighten, the ripple effect on the community will be very, very significant.”

Wyse estimates each direct job affected has a multiplier of another two or three jobs.

He stresses that adequate Employment Insurance is the most readily available cushion for the wokers affected, and says Premier Gordon Campbell should have been lobbying the federal government for EI changes and increased funding for retraining months ago.

“The only two people in B.C. who didn’t see this coming were Gordon Campbell and his finance minister,” he says. “The EI amount is not anywhere near adequate.”

In last week’s federal budget, the government proposed extending EI benefits five weeks to a total of 50 weeks.

Late last month, Tolko's dimension mills in Williams Lake and Quesnel went from a four-day work week to a three-day work-week, due to the company trying to match its production to a low level of demand in the North American market, affecting about 700 employees.

On Jan. 5, about 45 employees at Tolko's Soda Creek stud mill were laid off, as that mill went into a reduced work week, from three to two shifts.

At that time, Fraser said that Tolko and other forest companies are trying to gauge where the market is going in terms of price of and the demand for its products. He had said that the first quarter of the year looks "pretty tough" across the industry, due to demand and the continued uncertainty in the U.S., and that it remains to be see to what extent the industry will improve seasonally and to what extent it will improve annually.

Other mills in the Cariboo have also been greatly affected by the economy, market conditions, and the U.S. housing market recently.

On Thursday, Jan. 29, West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. announced curtailments at five of its mills, including the sawmill/planer mill in Williams Lake.

The West Fraser mill will be entering the five-day curtailment Feb. 9 and will then likely have its workweek reduced from five to three days through a work-share program through Human Resource Development Canada. About 150 of the 170 people employed at the sawmill/planer mill are affected.

Market conditions also affected Jackpine Forest Group in Williams Lake, as the company filed for bankruptcy in December, affecting more than 100 employees.