Local sawmill planting seeds of good will

The owners of a West Kelowna sawmill will give their hourly employees a bonus of up to $5,000 to help with the rising cost of living.

High lumber prices have benefited Gorman Group and the company is in a good financial position to provide the additional support to its workers, chief executive officer Nick Arkle said Tuesday.

“We recognize our employees have come through two years of challenges from the pandemic to various weather events and the general economy. They face increasing pressures of inflation and uncertainty and we are fortunate to be able to lessen the impact of those rising costs for them and their families,” Arkle said in a news release.

Gorman Group, formerly Gorman Bros. Lumber, is the largest private sector employer in West Kelowna, with a workforce of about 1,000 people. It’s a family-owned company that dates back to the 1940s.

The workforce is non-unionized, but employees earn salaries comparable or in excess of those paid in unionized sawmills. The company, which focuses on specialized lumber products for the home finishing market, has also avoided the cyclical downsizings and rehirings common in the industry.

“While lumber prices are softening, we have experienced over the last two years an unusual period of very high prices which gives us the opportunity,” Arkle said of the $5,000 bonuses to hourly staff.

“We recognize our employees are having to deal with the rising cost of gas, food, and consumer goods. We hope this will help all of them,” he said.

Each active hourly employee who has been with the company for six months will receive up to $5,000. Those with less service or who are part-time will receive a pro-rated amount.

The bonuses are in addition to the 2.5% cost of living wage increase the company already planned to give its workers on Canada Day.

Gorman Group sells into more than 30 countries, and has operations in West Kelowna, Revelstoke, Canoe, Lumby and Oroville, Wash.

In recent years, workers at the West Kelowna mill have twice defended the plant, near the Highway 97-Highway 97C interchange, from encroaching forest fires, working alongside firefighters to spray down the mill and the surrounding area.