Forestry

2024 B.C. Forestry Workers' Summit

On March 12, 2024, forestry workers from three unions convened for a summit to address the crisis in the industry and to develop sustainable solutions centred around job preservation. This meeting was unprecedented and signifies a new phase in the forestry workers' efforts to prevent the industry's collapse.

 

Forestry Workers’ Summit unites workers in effort to strengthen sector

VICTORIA—Rank-and-file forestry workers, union leaders, policymakers, and researchers gathered to hash out solutions to the crisis facing British Columbia’s forestry industry during a policy summit on March 12 in Victoria.

The summit, jointly hosted by Unifor, the United Steelworkers union (USW), and the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), was an unprecedented gathering of workers who have experienced firsthand the many mill closures and related job losses in an industry that was once world-renowned.

Workers excluded from Quebec government’s forestry roundtables

Unions representing workers in Quebec's forestry sector say the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MRNF) is going in the wrong direction for forestry sector consutlations.

Unifor, United Steelworkers, the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (CSD) and the Fédération de l'industrie manufacturière (FIM-CSN) were united in their denounciation of the MRNF’s process announced during a press conference held on February 7 in Saguenay Quebec.

Unifor is disappointed by indefinite curtailment of Crofton mill

VANCOUVER-Unifor is calling for an immediate response by all levels of government to support the Vancouver Island forestry sector following Paper Excellence’s announcement to curtail operations at its Crofton pulp mill indefinitely.

“An indefinite curtailment is an immeasurable loss for too many workers and their families who deserve so much better from Paper Excellence,” said National President Lana Payne. “These companies must be held to account and Canada and B.C. must support a value-added forestry industry that creates good, union jobs for generations to come.”

$19M in government funding for Crofton mill and nothing to show for it

CROFTON—The fourth consecutive curtailment at the Paper Excellence paper mill in Crofton will keep more than 100 workers laid off and the community left wondering why they have nothing to show for $19 million in public funding from two levels of government.

The new curtailment will reportedly extend to the end of February 2024.