New Deal Fires up Mill

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN, 16 Dec. 2009 - Canfor Corp. announced Wednesday it will be restarting its Chetwynd sawmill this spring, which will put about 70 people back to work.

The company said the decision to restart operations was a result of a new labour agreement with the United Steelworkers and recent company approval to spend $16 million to upgrade the mill.

The sawmill, north of Prince George, has been closed for 20 months, a victim of a forestry downturn led by a collapse in U.S. housing.

The sawmill will return to operation with a single shift in a phased start up. When the mill is in full operation, it's expected to employ 100 people. Another forest operation, Tembec's pulp mill, also recently announced its resuming operations in the new year.

Canfor spokesman Dave Lefebvre said the cash infusion will be spent to retool the plant and change the production profile to meet its emerging prime product markets. "The prime product markets are obviously our home centre business as well as Asia," said Lefebvre, director of public affairs and corporate communications.

The United Steelworkers said the new labour agreement includes a wage reduction of $5.40 an hour, which amounts to about a 20 per cent wage cut. However, unionized employees have an opportunity to increase their wages at the mill as the lumber market improves and the mill's financial performance improves, said United Steelworkers local 1-424 president Frank Everitt.

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