The return to work by the majority of unionized employees at the Paper Excellence Catalyst Crofton mill is indeed good news, but questions remain.
The 300+ PPWC Local 2 employees will slowly be getting back into the swing of things, but the Unifor Local 1132 workers on the paper side of the operation are curtailed another month.
Related story: Pulp operations restarting at the Catalyst Crofton mill, but not paper production
Just how long the kraft side of the mill will continue to operate before there might be another curtailment is uncertain. Perhaps there won’t be a curtailment any time soon, but the company isn’t making any clear-cut announcement about the economic situation in the long-term.
The company’s own statement attributed to Krista Cuddy, the interim director of operations and integration, reads in part: “we will continue to assess the ongoing viability of maintaining kraft pulp operations at Crofton to ensure it is cost effective to operate and consistent with our overall business strategies.”
It’s not exactly a vote of confidence for how long it might be before the company decides the impacts of global market fluctuations is too great.
Geoff Dawe, president of PPWC Local 2, said the site itself is ideal for the industry and “it generates a lot of revenue in the community.”
But after three straight month-long curtailments through July, August and September, a lot of younger workers with families to be concerned about had to make some difficult decisions.
“We’ve had some people leave, but that’s unfortunate,” said Dawe.
It’s a tough time of year, he conceded, following the return to school and university for so many and rapidly heading toward Christmas. But he’s holding out hope the union will receive a clearer picture of what the company is planning down the road to ease the unsettling times.
“That’s what we’re looking for is security,” Dawe said.
Local 2 and the national branch of the PPWC spent a lot of time behind the scenes during the curtailments to get the province, the feds and the municipality to help get some clarity from the company.
“Shortly after that, we started to get some traction,” said Dawe. “We are very happy with this turn of events that we are going to be starting up and moving forward.”