Well there you go. Kinda bittersweet though eh….Good for the former employees that will now recieve severance…but sad that the place will never operate again….

It truly is sad and very unethical the way Canfor operates their business. They left a variety of families in the lurch for a couple years, and for some it has meant financial ruin.

It is true that we are all three pay checks away from the food lines. I am thankful for, and worry about my job each and every day.

There is just no certainty these days.

About time! There you go noseverence you should get your severence now and have to change your name :)

About time! There you go noseverence you should get your severence now and have to change your name :)

Sorry for the double post

Good to hear, burn that place to the ground demolish the rest and build something else there

Could they get their cheques before Christmas?

Sorry to hear this former Rustad employees. I am glad that you will finally receive severance but sorry that they won’t be opening this mill again.

So does that mean Noseverence need to get a new name?

Well, my prediction of the mill not operating this year or next remains true. It has sat around way too long and it is not viable to restart that mill.

Sure hope Lakeland Mills stays around for a while. I can’t see the city of PG buying the furnace and hot water heater from them for George Street. Municipal (CUPE) employees gathering firewood for said mill? Here’s hoping.

Very irresponsible behavior for a good corporate citizen!! They should be offering interest back to shutdown for all their loyal employees.

I am glad for the people getting the severence they deserve BUT… are there really people that have sat for this long just complaining and not moving forward? I know I would not sit around and wait for the bank to take my house, car, whatever, because it was “indefinite”? I suspect that the type of personality that sat and went broke waiting for this severence is the same personality that will now sit and wait on welfare and complain about the next way the “system is screwing them”.

Years ago when Ben was on the radio before Mr. Overwaitea had him removed , he had a program about the forest industry. It was just when it was announced that Northwood was going to change hands. I predicted on that show that Prince George would become a one company town and that Canfor would be the ruin of our economy. Damn I think I was right.

I do not think anyone at Canfor or the industry in general expected the downturn in the U.S.housing market to last as long as it has. It will be another year or two at least before it starts to recover.

Some blame for the delay must also go to the Steelworkers who bargained to allow the companies to have extended shutdowns in exchange for retaining bargaining rights to the site(wouldn’t want them dues going to the PPWC now would we councillor Everett.)

Interceptor, the average years of service for that mill was 20 years. Some old timers had 42 years. You could count the number of people with a diploma on your fingers. I personally know people who worked there that had less than grade 8 education. So it’s really tough to get a job when your old and have very little education. If you had just remortgaged before the shutdown announcement then you could be in trouble really fast if you can’t find work.

Yes I guess I will have to change my name, any suggestions? But not until Jan 20, 2012.

Just sell the mills workings to the Chinese; they can then use all the raw logs they are already getting from us!

NoSeverance, my suggestion for a name would be Captain Awesome

Lonesome Sparrow, your confused with the union negotiating to extend our recall rights so that the companies could have an extended shutdown with a law that changed in BC that allowed companies to do this. Do you think Canfor would of paid their Upper Fraser Employees 15 days per year of service if all they had to do is say were are shutting done indefinately? It had nothing to do with the union negotiating extended recall rights and everything to do with something the Liberals did. We will never know what would of happened when our recall rights expired because the recall rights were extended. What I do know is the Rustads employees finally get closure and severance. They don’t get the 15 days per year of service the Upper Fraser people got and they don’t get the minimun 7 days per year of sevice the BC labour code states.

I wonder who would of represented the Rustad employees if their recall rights had expired? Hire a lawyer and good luck? We will only know what actually happened and never know the what if’s.

I hear you noseverence and I understand that would be a nightmare for some people. I am only an acquaintance of one person from Rustad and he was there about 8 years. He has now been unemployed since the shutdown and his wife is keeping the place afloat. He sure manages to smell like dope while he complains about severence everytime I run across him though… That is more the “type” of person I was referring to.
The guys with over 40 years of doing nothing else are the ones that I feel sorry for. Although I would hope that they are not remortgaging at that point ;)

Sad to see it shut down for good. Hope the former employees will succesfully move on with their lives.

Well about freaking time they come up with this news, unfortunitly a little too late for some who lost alot. Now to my understanding being a former employee of rustad that our severance is to be paid out in 2 installments jan 20/2012 and dec 20/2012 which i believe is garbage. Again!!!! the union is not stading up for us all the way as in the payment installments what i mean is i’d like to see it in jan and july of 2012 and not have to wait till next dec. I can just see Canfor holding off on the severance till they used up there cash for the purchase of those two mills and that was foolish downright low of them. Grass roots of this community what garbage they feed us Payout clearlake in full payout rustad in two. I heard from someone who heard from a union rep that the reason for 2 installments instead of one would hit canfor hard and i say hit them hard well like i would give a crap after the bull they did to us and how much some have lost. This rally that was to be put on should still happen to force the issue that we want our severance sooner then next dec personally if I had a say i would want it all at once but the union never gave the former employees an opportunity to have there say. For those who wanted theres all upfront should recieve it upfront and for those who wanted in installments have it that way. I can just see it now that the way the market is that in a years time they will come up with another excuse for not paying the rest.

I guess that the part of this shutdown that Pat Bell referred to as being a **positive** is that portions of the mill will be used for trades training and education.

Whoopee Ding.

Lakeland the way I hear it is run, not to sure how long it will last. Very top heavy.

Canfor bought the plywood plant and killed it after the suspicious fire. they wiped out the upper fraser sawmill when it was profitable, with the swipe of a pen. Why? Because a little creep who owns Save On took over controlling shares and has been killing BC one plant at a time. Oh did I forget Rustads? What about Hines Creek Sawmill, Taylor and Fort Nelson?

Congratulations Rustad workers for getting what you are owed. Canfor is and will remain influential in this city, and the company can hold it’s head up now for having done the right thing. It’s been 6 months since the new Canfor management took over and it looks to me like the tides are turning. Of course 6 months is a long time when waiting for severance but it isnt very long in business. Just my opinion but I think they are doing pretty well and they seem to be setting their house in order. To those sneering at Pat Bell’s reference to trades training…let’s hope. With shipbuilding and other big-city draws on our skilled labour base, how else do we think we will supply the workforce needs of the Interior, whether for mining, forestry, energy and other industries. If Pat Bell can put a decent trade school on that property, he has my vote.

And canuckfan74 do you use the same identity on plentyoffish? I would have expected some gratitude for USW having negotiated a settlement at all. Would you be angry no matter what you got?

There is a way to end this anialation of our forest industry. Whether liberal Mike DeJong understood this or not, he made a an unbelievable and totally unconsulted policy change which has doomed the labour force who depend on the forest industry.
DeJong and the liberals have set in motion the end of many jobs and several communities which existed because of their local sawmill.

There will be more closures because it makes sense to stop investing wherever it isn’t necesary…and it isn’t necesary because the timber rights are no longer tied to that mill. People need to remember and make the Canfors remember that it was this social contract which granted those rights BECAUSE THEY WERE OBLIGATED TO OPERATE THAT FACILITY!

The liberals had no more right to remove this requirement than it did to dump BC Rail.

Put the onus upon Canfor and give them the option to walk away from that operation as well as the timber rights OR keep the timber and operate the mill.This business would be operated or sold rather than just demolished and its timber swallowed by another division.

You have to wonder what was intended by the change in forest policy? That change not only breaks this important social contract but protects and actually rewards consolidation and gives priority of profitability of a corporation above the wellbeing of the workers,the communitites and the province as a whole? Best of all it prevents anyone else from having the opportunity to obtain this timber and be a possible competitor. PERFECT!

So your saying that small inefficient mills held hostage by government policy is the secret to the survival of the forest industry?

Intercepter as for your comment about waiting around, we did not wait around! Gerald had 2 heart attacks just before Rustad had shutdown. He was off work for 10 months prior on our lovely medical that paid 400 a week, waiting for heart surgery, thanks to our BC medical for their prompt attention to fixing this, yah right! We had to remortgage, we had no choice! We don’t smoke drugs, and Gerald was over 50, a grade 7 education, with a heart condition when that mill went down! If we would have had our severance at the closure we would not have had to file bankruptcy, we couldn’t sell the house and clear the mortgage due to the economy, and at that point we gave up!!!! We had resumes out everywhere but nobody wanted to hire a man this old with a medical condition.so you can have your opinion but do not assume everyone does drugs and sat on their ass waiting to lose everything, this is not the case. Oh and I forgot to mention this mill had been taking curtailments for 2 years every second month! Yah and times are not getting better, I hear Canfor mills again will be taking curtailments in 2012 as the lumber market hasn’t improved and now they’ve flooded the Chinese market. So watch out mill workers that think they are in any way secure in their jobs. This big corporation called Canfor, who claims to have their roots in the community don’t care about you, and you will be next!!!!!

“Born in BC: So your saying that small inefficient mills held hostage by government policy is the secret to the
survival of the forest industry?”
I don’t know how that question makes any sense because the Rustad mill was hardly what you could classify as a “small inefficient mill” nor is its forest licence small and worthless.

Just suppose you and the liberals are right to think that it should just be a corporate decision to decide how much more consolidated that the forest industry becomes. Then just suppose that you and the liberals are right that it is more important to make canfor rich and more powerfull than it is to retain employment and the ability to govern our natural resource sector. Which of those “efficiencies” are important to the people of this province who own that timber and rely upon employment and require community stability?

The proof of this spindoctored story of that mill being hopeless is to have it put up for sale with or without the timber rights and see just how valuable that each really are.

I know this isn’t politically correct, but I have a hard time blaming Canfor for all the people who made great livings for long periods of time, bought big toys and houses, and had no savings when the mill closed.

There are a few important questions other than what employees spent their money on. There is a different view when not being corporately correct and looking to what this all means today and for our future as a province.

One question is where did the money go which this operation made over its long life and why wasn’t it reinvested to keep it as lucrative as needed to make its owners happy enough to keep it operating?

If these are jobs which “made great livings” then why is it not important to keep them OR allow a new owner to provide them?

Who are the people who are going to buy the houses and sustain a community if the resources which surround their community are shipped somewhere else just to be processed MORE profitably?

If this is allowed to continue then why would anyone in their right mind buy a house in a small community and expect that its government would put the interests of those who elected them behind those who wish to do nothing but exploit us?

“One question is where did the money go which this operation made over its long life and why wasn’t it reinvested to keep it as lucrative as needed to make its owners happy enough to keep it operating?”

I would presume a large chunk went to various capital projects, shareholders, and last but not least, wages and benefits.

—

“If these are jobs which “made great livings” then why is it not important to keep them OR allow a new owner to provide them?”

Because at the end of the day, nobody owes you a living. There are no guarantees.

Actually Johnnybelt most of the money made by this multinational corporation went to buy the mills in the southern US who now COMPETE AGAINST US.

It is dissapointing to say the least that our forests and our sweat is used to destroy our standard of living.

Generally speaking you are correct in that no one owes any of us a living and this too applies to owing corporations whatever they want.

However, it is important to know that any large forest operation such as Rustads was granted its timber rights with the requirement that it must operate that mill and if it didn’t it would face the cancelation of those rights. That social contract pretty much meant that employment was very certain if not garanteed.

“That social contract pretty much meant that employment was very certain if not garanteed.”

BS. The ‘social contract’ doesn’t exist, whatever you believe it to mean. People are free to work and live wherever they want, presumably working for companies that have the best benefits and pay well.

Companies like Canfor employed people, many who had very little education and paid them more than they would get anywhere.

Sorry, but the ‘entitled’ mentality doesn’t wash with me. Of course, workers are entitled to their severance under whatever rules exist for paying it out. Nothing more, nothing less. They are not entitled to a job for life.

First of all I didn’t invent the terms of how and why timber licences were granted.

However it is a fact that when they allocated the public’s forests to each company that there was in fact a contract that obligated the province to supply timber at a rate and which also obligated the company to manufacture it at a designated facility. This was the case for just about every timber licence issued in the province and no major tenures have been issued since 2003 when then minister DeJong changed these rules.

So it is no surprise that workers and communities built their futures around the facts that the timber would be processed at a given location and essentially in perpetuity. It is also no surprise that this social contract was what built the industry we had and provided the employment security which built many communities in this province. That is simply the facts.

The question I raised earlier in this thread was why did the province need to change that social contract and for whos benefit? Was the change needed for the benefit of the communities or the workers in those communities? It certainly was not done for the benefit of either but rather in secret because of the imanent closures and layoffs that would essentially destroy some communities. Did the province just decide on its own to change this forest policy or was it demanded to be changed? So take from that, that these changes were done for the benefit of the corporations who owned the mills and in spite of the workers and their communities.

Moreover is the question of what is the validity of that change that was made and without any consultation with those workers and communities it knew would be effected/layed off? What would be the total cost to this province for this overall upheavel and why should the taxpayor have to pay for it?

These liberal forest policy changes are now being seen for what they are, but the question is where will they stop?

“So it is no surprise that workers and communities built their futures around the facts that the timber would be processed at a given location and essentially in perpetuity. It is also no surprise that this social contract was what built the industry we had and provided the employment security which built many communities in this province. That is simply the facts.”

Since you want to continue to believe that people are owed a living, there’s not much more I can say. Other than, reality would dictate otherwise.

I have not said that people are “owed a living” but I have said that corporations are not owed returns either.

The reality is that people expect that where employment is possible that our governments support a balanced approach to not only helping create new jobs but also help sustain the existing jobs.It doesn’t have the ability to change world prices but it does have the ability to adjust taxes, royalties and general costs of dealing with regulations etc. The balance needed involves both profits to business as well as decent paying jobs and that is the way most economies work.

Competition is a fundamental requirement to keeping this balance in check for both business and labour. Monopolies in any business sector are no more beneficial and equally destructive than are monopolies on labour such as overly powerfull unions.

Through decades of forest industry consolidation we have ended up with numerous monopolies where one company is the only major primary industry employer.
This now includes several regional monopolies which further limits governments ability to maintain balance and revenues from industry. When you have one company that has too much leverage on government in numerous areas of this province,then you cannot maintain the balance needed to maintain a healthy economy. That is where we are at and it continues to get worse instead of better.

It is not a unique view of mine to believe that our economy needs jobs. Log export restrictions are a good example of the vast majority of people demanding and expecting to have employment created in this province from our natural resources. Many people also believe we need to do more manufacturing with less resources and that too is the expectation that employment is necesary and needs to be the sustainable basis for our economy longterm. With balanced government we could have more benefit with less use of our resources but that would be a much needed siesmic shift of forest industry policy.

The closure of Rustads is the opposite of these public expectations and clear indication of how little our government is doing to stop the further consolidation of the forest industry. It is clear who is in control and it is not the government and it is not the people of this province who decide who pays taxes or who’s burden it is to maintain our economy.

How much does the the public have to pay to have itself be controlled by this now subservant position that our governments have put us?