Union blasts company, provincial governments over layoffs at plant near North Bay
CTV
It’s been a devastating week for Temiscaming, a town in northwestern Quebec located on the Ontario-Quebec border.
It’s been a devastating week for Temiscaming, a town in northwestern Quebec located on the Ontario-Quebec border.
Rayonier Advanced Materials shut down the high-purity cellulose plant operations indefinitely Monday morning, laying off 275 employees.
“The final sheet came off the dry machine in the specialty cellulose mill at around 6:30 a.m.,” said UNIFOR Local 233 president Stephane Lefebvre.
“This means the end for a lot of people and a lot of lost jobs.”
The company that owns the plant, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) headquartered out of Jacksonville, Fla., announced the layoffs in late April, citing sluggish sales.
“Given current market conditions and high capital and fixed costs associated with the HPC plant, this decision will help mitigate the plant’s ongoing operating losses and improve the company’s consolidated free cash flow,” the company said in a previous news release.
But the union is blasting the company for abandoning the municipality.
