The pulp and paper mill closures and layoffs going on in various towns and cities throughout Northwestern Ontario throughout the past month and a half, is no cause for alarm for employees of Abitibi-Consolidated in Fort Frances, the mill’s general manager John Harrison said yesterday.
“I don’t foresee any big changes to what’s going on here right now,” Harrison said. “Our order book is in pretty good shape.”^The Weyerhaeuser Canada sawmill and pulp and paper mill in Dryden announced on Tuesday of this week that they will be laying off nearly 400 employees this fall when they close the sawmill part of the plant permanently.
Last month, Buchanan Forest Products announced layoffs of more than 800 workers from its plants in Atikokan, Dubreuilville, and Thunder Bay.
Bowater Inc. closed its Thunder Bay mill for nine days beginning in late June because of a lack of wood fibre.
“I don’t see anything like that happening here,” Harrison said, citing cost cutting measures as an important part of operations.
“Cost reduction has been an ongoing effort here for years. It’s never over,” he said.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
