Kitimat Remains In a Whirl Over Pending Eurocan Closure

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C.-  The number of people who will be left  out of work when the Eurocan mill in Kitimat closes at the end of January is growing.

Speaking on the Meisner program this  morning on CFISFM, CEP Union local reps for the mill, Mary Murphy and Adrian Welsh  say the latest number of direct jobs  to be lost will be 568, that’s up from the initial 535 announced by West Fraser when it lowered the boom on the  aging mill.

“We are already seeing the impact in Kitimat” says Mary Murphy “You can get a furnished apartment  at a very reasonable rent with a couple of months of electricity for free, we have lots of homes on the market.”   While there are plans for a Liquid Natural Gas line and export port for Kitimat, Murphy says that won’t solve the problems long term “We need a long term repair, not a quick fix,  we need  a commitment to forestry   to ensure it is a viable  industry.”

“We see truck after truck after truck dumping logs in the water, and none of them are being utilized by us, they are being shipped somewhere else” says Murphy, “We need  a commitment to  support industry in our  own country first.”

Murphy says everyone will share in the loss of the jobs in Kitimat “When you’re in Vancouver, you’re picking up the bill for 568 people being out of work, you’re picking that up.”

Because the mill is being shut down permanently,  West Fraser will be honouring the  contract provisions for severance pay.  The contract provides for 2 weeks severance  per year  for up to  20 years of service and one week per year for service beyond 20 years.

Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan says the town is “in a whirl”.  She says people are still asking is this real, is this really happening?  The Eurocan mill paid between $3 and 4 million dollars in taxes to Kitimat, “That will continue next year, but when the mill is closed, the assessed value will reduce that considerably.”

Monaghan says the employment impact will spill out  to the support industries, and  the impact will be more like 2 to 3,000 jobs. “We had a meeting with West Fraser yesterday, we made several proposals but West Fraser kept saying  it’s not going to work, its not going to work.”  She says  the company doesn’t seem willing to  talk about options “It was a very discouraging meeting.”

Mayor Monaghan says there will be another meeting this weekend.  She says the pending LNG  project could  create up to 1700 jobs “I have spoken to the university and they are willing to  offer some programs to help workers  develop skills  they may need to  land those jobs.  That project will give us a window of a couple of years.” Another possibility is the construction of the  Highway 37 electrification  line, but  there needs to be  some sort of assistance until that construction starts.  “I am willing to work with  anyone to push  the buttons to help my community.”

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