Jobs Lost at Tolko Solid Woods Plant in The Pas

On March 31, 75 members of United Steelworkers Local 1-324 employed at Tolko Manitoba Solid Woods will be out of work indefinitely. That amounts to half of the Steelworkers who had been working on the site prior to the most recent layoffs - and down from the 275 Steelworkers who worked at the Tolko Sawmill when it was at its peak in the early 2000s. An operation that once ran 24 hours a day 7 days a week will be down to 75 workers who will be working on a one shift basis effective April 1 and continuing indefinitely.

"We are devastated," commented Chris Parlow President of United Steelworkers Local 1-324. "It tears at your guts to see this happen because we know it's through no fault of our own. We have done all that is possible to make this operation successful as workers. However external forces such as the U.S. housing crisis, high Canadian dollar, high fuel prices, and the terrible softwood lumber 'sellout' agreement, all are contributing to high costs, and low lumber prices. We are resilient and know what is taking place in this forestry crisis in Canada, but it doesn't make it any easier."

Tolko has said that if market conditions improve substantially, the Steelworkers who have been laid off will be recalled to work. There is no indication that will happen anytime soon because the entire forest industry is going through a crisis of a magnitude never before seen in Canada.