Chemainus sawmill workers face two-week shutdown

A Chemainus sawmill that employs 145 workers is ceasing operations for 14 days, starting Monday.

United Steelworkers 1-1937, which represents workers at the Western Forest Products mill in Chemainus, said it received news of the shutdown on Wednesday.

Union business agent Chris Cinkant said the remanufacturing mill in Chemainus — also owned by Western Forest — is expected to continue operations during the sawmill’s closure.

The shutdown will be difficult and upsetting for those who live paycheque to paycheque, he said. “It’s frightening for everybody.”

The Chemainus sawmill hasn’t seen layoffs as frequently as other mills, as it primarily deals in cedar, a fairly profitable product, Cinkant said. “That particular mill isn’t used to layoffs.”

Western Forest Products told the union the decision to pause operations stemmed from market conditions and a lack of red cedar inventory for the mill, he said.

Company spokesperson Babita Khunkun said the temporary curtailment, which stems in part from lack of availability of “economically viable logs,” will affect 100 out of the 145 workers at the Chemainus sawmill.

“We recognize the impact of downtime on our team members,” she said, adding employees affected by the Chemainus shutdown will be transferred to other company locations where possible.

Western, which owns six sawmills and two remanufacturing plants on Vancouver Island, announced a $35-million expansion of its drying kilns at its Nanaimo and Chemainus operations last month.

Khunkun said the shutdown won’t affect plans to add new drying kilns at the Chemainus remanufacturing plant, which will increase annual capacity by about 70 million board feet.

On Tuesday, major B.C. forest industry unions United Steelworkers, Unifor, and Public and Private Workers of Canada met with Premier David Eby in Victoria to advocate for their members during a time of deepening crisis in the industry.

A report jointly released by the three unions said softwood harvesting declined by half from 2016 to last year, which has caused ripple effects in downstream industries including sawmills, manufacturing, and pulp and paper operations.

B.C. forest industry jobs have dwindled to 43,000 from 80,000 in 2001, the report said.