Category Archives: Mill Closures & Layoffs

Cascades Inc. has announced the consolidation of its corrugated product plants in its Norampac division in Ontario.

The consolidation translates into an investment totalling in excess of $30 million in the Vaughan, St. Mary’s, Etobicoke, and Belleville plants, and the closure of the North York and Peterborough units, as well as the OCD plant in Mississauga.

“The purpose of this restructuring is to optimize the productivity in our corrugated product plants in Ontario and enhance customer service. These steps are in line with our regional development strategy, which includes the recent acquisition of three Bird Packaging plants,” explained Marc-André Dépin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Norampac.

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Two more temporary shutdowns are being planned for Bowater Mersey in Nova Scotia.

Downtime will be taken:

• May 6 – 21
• June 17 – July 2

The downtime is being blamed on poor market conditions.

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The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) is calling on Norampac to stop “job blackmail and work with the union to save jobs and protect the local economy.”

The reaction comes after Cascades issued a news release today announcing the planned closure of its Norampac-Trenton mill, while in the middle of contract negotiations with the union.

Most of the 130 workers at the company’s Trenton mill are members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. They voted yesterday to reject the employer’s contract offer, which contained “unacceptable concessions,” says Dave Moffat, CEP Administrative Vice-President, Ontario.

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Cascades Inc. has just announced the closure of its Norampac containerboard mill located in Trenton, Ontario.

The closure announcement follows the rejection of the final offer made to the employees regarding the new collective agreement.

The closure of the mill will be effective no later than June 1, 2012.

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Resolute Forest Products shut down its kraft mill in Fort Frances, Ontario yesterday.

The downtime is being blamed on a lack of qualified personnel for the 2nd class stationary engineer positions.

The kraft mill will be shut down for 1 week. 70 employees are affected.

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Bowater Mersey in Nova Scotia started a 3-week shutdown yesterday.

Resolute Forest Products has said the shutdown is due to a saturation in the world markets as well as a shortage of new orders.

This is the second shutdown at the Bowater Mersey mill since before Christmas.

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Kruger has just cut 187 jobs at its New Westminster paper mill in British Columbia.

The company will be shutting down two of the mill’s four production lines. These two lines were described by Chuck Stewart, the mill’s general manager, as inefficient and outdated. These two lines make toilet and other tissue items. The remaining two lines produce other consumer and commercial tissue products.

Most of the employees being cut are represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Local 456.

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Cascades Inc. has announced the permanent closure of Cascades Enviropac, located in Toronto.

Production at this unit, specialized in the manufacturing of Technicomb™ honeycomb packaging, intended primarily for the furniture packaging industry, will progressively be redirected towards the Cascades Enviropac Berthierville, Québec and the Grand Rapids, Michigan plants.

Approximately 36 employees will be affected by this closure which will be effective on June 1, 2012.

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Resolute Forest Products is scheduling downtime at its Bowater Mersey mill in Nova Scotia.

The downtime will begin on March 11 and will last for 3 weeks.

A lack of orders is being blamed for the downtime.

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Fibrek Inc. has announced that it will be taking market-related downtime at its Fairmont Mill.

The mill will be down for for approximately five weeks, beginning February 20, 2012, to manage its inventories as a result of current market conditions, while continuing to fulfill all customer commitments.

This measure will remove approximately 25,000 tonnes of RBK pulp from production.

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