Seems reasonable for Canfor to want to have some idea of what its future operating costs are likely to be before spending that much money. How can it do that if it doesn’t yet know whether the tentative contract it has negotiated with its workforce’s Union is going to be approved?

Socredible. Canfor would have a pretty good idea what the contract will be, ie; as noted above, or a few points over. Its not hard to figure out what the end result of negotiations will be in this day and age.

I notice they did not mention what the Union was looking for. Whats the difference between the offer and the Unions ask?? Enough to snuff the upgrades? I doubt it.

I suspect the real reason for the upgrades is to replace the lost production from selling the Quesnel mill, and no doubt sometime in the future we will have an upgrade from West Fraser to replace the lost production from Houston.

I am wondering how many job cuts will be linked to this new contract. I agree with Palopu that Canfor would have a pretty good idea of the numbers. I think that contracting out language or job cuts would be the issue.

Is not the default definition of a sawmill upgrade include increased production with reduced expenses (labor, jobs,etc.) I understand that there is often reduced waste, power use, etc. but labor is still a major variable in the equation.

They might have a good idea of what the eventual accepted contract is. BUT, there is no contract. Plain and simple.

So, there is no commitment to an upgrade. Also plain and simple and totally reasonable. The conditions of each are interdependent.

You guys missed that article where it said CanFor was shutting down a mill here while opening one up in China??

Gus. Everyone in BC and perhaps all of Canada knows that a contract will be signed, and it will be very close to what Canfor is looking for.

There is no mystery around contract negotiations, they have been a part of doing business in BC for 100 years.

The contract will be signed, the upgrade will go ahead, production will be increased, and perhaps some additional jobs created to handle the increase in production.

Worse case scenario is the **status quo**.

Everyone seems to focus on a relatively small investment in a single secondary manufacturing plant in China and seem to ignore the major investments on this side of the drink.

http://www.stockhouse.com/news/natural-resources/2013/12/02/canfor-%28t-cfp%29-to-invest-$36m-updating-houston-b-c

from the linked article:

“The company says it has invested $650 million in modernizing its facilities since 2010.”

Stillsmokin: go to the previous article and read the comments and you will find that”you guys” are fully aware.

“Everyone in BC” … oh …. and you think this is a story outside of the North?

I know a guy who lives on Douglas St. I asked him. He did not know what the heck I was talking about.

;-)

“There is no mystery around contract negotiations, they have been a part of doing business in BC for 100 years.”

Wish the City knew that. They would have had a new contract in place and ready to go around the time the term of the existing one was up.

The City and the Province are playing games with these contracts. The City will sign a four year contract with 0-0 for the first two years. This gets them through the election (2014) looking (somewhat) good. They will then sell the farm for the next two years.

The Province will sign a 5 year agreement with the BCGEU that will get them through the next election without any problems. They too have sold the farm.

Who pays? The taxpayers of course.

These so called negotiations are more flim flam than anything. The Unions and Management do not need or deserve any increases for the next five years, unless they can show that all taxpayers, are also getting increases to cover these costs.