Winton Global Woes Two-Fold Says Union Rep
Prince George, B.C. - Winton Global employees have been off the job since the Christmas break. And, while the Nechako icejam may dictate the length of their lay-off, it is the economy that may pose an even greater uncertainty when they return...
The workers were supposed to head back to their jobs on January 7th, but the flood surge on the 5th prompted company officials to notify workers the situation was too dangerous. Employees at the company’s sawmill near Bear Lake are also off the job as a result.
The President of the United Steelworkers local 1-424 says he hasn’t spoken with Winton Global executives recently, but he has been meeting with laid off workers and has heard all their concerns. (A call to Winton Global President, John Elmslie, was not returned, but he did speak with Opinion250 earlier in the month to deny rumours of a permanent closure in the spring, click here)
Frank Everitt says there’s no doubt the reason the workers are off the job is two-fold. Everitt says the safety concerns are legitimate ones. He says, at one point, there was about five feet of water in Winton Global offices and their hot oil sytem (KNOUS system), "had to be shut down and, I believe, drained."
"Also the seepage of groundwater is going into their shop and into their equipment and the dangers with water and electricity -- nobody wants to be in there."
But Everitt says compounding the flood crisis is the crisis in the industry, in general. "The economics are pretty tough in the forest industry," he says. "So we’ve got both factors, in my mind."
Everitt says when the employees were laid off, Winton Global officials sent out a letter saying they were hopeful employees could return to work by March 17th. From that point, the union rep says, the plan is to run out the company’s log inventory (approximately three months of wood), and then make decisions based on the economics at that time – on "whether they continue to log and bring more wood into the Hart (Bear Lake) sawmill and, subsequently, then there would be stuff to be planed at the River Road location."
Previous Story - Next Story
Email
Print
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Del.icio.usReturn to Home
Posted by: szd on January 28 2008 11:41 AM
The latest data for new home sales in the U.S. was released today.
The folllowing paragraphs are from an article that was just posted on CNN.
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New home sales posted the biggest drop on record in 2007, according to the government's latest look at the battered housing market released Monday, as a year that saw a meltdown in the mortgage market and a drop in home values ended with yet more signs of weakness."
"December sales came in at an annual rate of 604,000, the report showed, down from the 634,000 sales pace in November, which was also revised lower.
The reading was well below the consensus forecast economists surveyed by Briefing.com, who had been looking for a December sales pace of 645,000.
The weak December sales left the full-year new home sales at 774,000, down 26 percent from the 1.05 million sales in 2006. That was the biggest drop since the government started tracking new home sales in 1963, surpassing the 23 percent decline posted in 1980.
It also was the second straight year of large declines from the record pace of 2005, which marked the end of the building boom. The report showed 2007 sales off nearly 40 percent from that peak of only two years ago."
"The median price of a new home sold in December came in at $219,200, down 10.4 percent from the $244,700 reading a year earlier."
"The prices have been driven down by the glut of new homes on the market for sale. The report showed a record 195,000 completed new homes available for sale at the end of the period, bringing total inventory - including new homes under construction and not yet started - to 494,000, equal to a nearly 10-month supply."
If anyone wishes to read the entire article, the following is the link to it.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/28/news/economy/newhomes/
I think this housing meltdown in the U.S.(and the credit crunch it has precipitated)has serious ramifications for our economy, and I would strongly recommend that all individuals, businesses, and governments spend their money very carefully.
In spite of the tough times for our lumber industry, there appears to be a lot more logging truck on the road lately than there usually is for this time of the year. Is there anyone that may hazaard a guess as to why this is so?