Lakeland Not Saying If Mill Will Be Rebuilt
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 @ 11:56 AM
Lakeland Mills CEO Greg Stewart talks to media outside UHNBC
Prince George, BC – The Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Mills, Greg Stewart, says no formal discussion has taken place about whether his company will re-build.
“We want to look after the families interests first," he said. "And we will deal with that later."
Stewart was addressing a media group gathered in front of the University Hospital of the North in Prince George today.
Lakeland employed about 150 people at the time of the fire and explosion. In addition, the company has numerous outside contractors.
Stewart said the company had installed a better dust collection system some time ago, as well the company had a major upgrade about one year ago making it one of the most high-tech mills in BC.
Does beetle wood create more dust, Stewart was asked. He said, "Employees say there is more dust, but we are afraid to speculate as to what the cause of the explosion and fire was."
Speculation continues that the explosion and fire at the Babine Mill in Burns Lake may have been caused by dust, although WorkSafe BC has yet to issue a report.
There are about 200 sawmills operating in the province, many have been milling beetle killed wood over the past ten years. Stewart says, "Until we can determine what the cause might be, I don’t want to speculate."
"We haven’t heard from other mills asking us to speculate on the cause of the blast," He says. "Other than to offer their condolences."
Comments
Where is the heart media? Let the mourning end before worrying about what is going to happen with rebuilding.
Let the man worry about his people first.
I’m sure everyone that works there would like to know if they should look for work elsewhere. So a simple yes would sure take alot of worry off of someones minds.
NoWay, you’re not going to get a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. A simple ‘yes’ would mean that Lakeland would have to immediately pay severance. Better if some of these workers find other jobs. Once they find other jobs, then no severance is needed.
In reality, it is unlikely that it will be rebuilt. Let’s say it was insured for $40 million because that’s what I’m guessing it would cost to rebuild. The problem is that after its rebuilt, it’s immediately worth $20 million. I might not have the numbers exactly right, but that’s the general idea. There’s no business case to build a sawmill right now. Lakeland would be better off to take the insurance payout and buy an existing mill (or some other investment) rather than rebuilding…
I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but this isn’t the first mill to burn down.
icicle,
I believe severance will still have to be payed out if the company does not rebuild, no matter what the time.
Mr. PG,
No severance does not have to be paid out if a worker finds another job. Severance is also not paid on temporary lay-offs.
For example, if a worker has been there 30 years, they could be entitled to 30 months of severance. If that worker finds another job in the next 3 months, then the severance would be reduced to potentially only 3 months and possibly nothing.
@ icicle,
I asked my union rep and he told me that there will be severance no matter if i have a new job, same as Rustads, NCP, and winton global.
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