Catalyst Powell River, a Paper Excellence Company, is into a temporary 15-day curtailment of paper operations in Powell River.
In a bulletin to employees, Powell River general manager Krista Cuddy said she regrets to announce that paper machines 10 and 11 will be curtailed for 15 days beginning September 15, 2019, through to September 30. She said the steam plant will remain running to support power generation.
“The company will meet with the unions over the next few days to discuss the impact to the crews during this curtailment period,” Cuddy stated. “Please continue to focus on working safely and support your colleagues and friends who may be affected by this curtailment.”
UNIFOR Local 76 president Mike Rumley said this curtailment is similar to what the mill has gone through before and the union is dealing with it the same way as in the past, making the best they can of what has been put in front of the union.
“We’re doing our best to try and work with the company and understand where the company is at,” said Rumley. “We are just trying to work with them to make the most of a difficult situation.”
This is the third curtailment this year. Rumley said the curtailments are tough, especially for the union’s younger members who don’t have the vacation time to put in to deal with the situation.
“It’s trying times,” said Rumley, “but we’re trying to do the best we can working through it.”
