B.C. government unveils $69-million aid package for workers in beleaguered forest industry
Credit to Author: Derrick Penner| Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 01:10:50 +0000
Since May, B.C.’s Interior forest industry has been hit with a cascading series of sawmill production curtailments and permanent closures that have left some 3,000 workers at least temporarily out of work.
On Tuesday, Forest Minister Doug Donaldson held out a $69-million, short-term lifeline to many of those workers in the form of early-retirement assistance, job-placement services, retraining programs, and make-work projects for logging contractors.
“We wanted to make sure we were tailoring programs to actual needs by hearing and listening to workers,” Donaldson said during the announcement in Prince George.
The measures, however, are only part of “a continuum,” Donaldson said, in dealing with a long-predicted rationalization of the industry driven by timber supplies that have been decimated by the mountain pine beetle infestation.
The minister acknowledged there will be more work to do, a point emphasized by unions. And B.C. Liberals criticized the government for taking so long and ignoring other measures at its disposal.
“High taxes and a refusal to make stumpage fees more consistent with current market values is pricing B.C. out of reach,” said Liberal forestry critic John Rustad, the MLA for Nechako Lakes.
“It appears John Horgan and the NDP would rather focus on early retirement and getting people out of the forestry sector than taking meaningful action to help them succeed today.”
Canfor Corp.’s closed sawmill in Vavenby.
Horgan was not at Tuesday’s announcement, but in a statement argued that the previous B.C. Liberal government Rustad was part of “knew that the end of the mountain pine beetle harvest would disrupt the lives of forest workers.”
“(The previous government) did little to prepare for this inevitable transition,” Horgan said.
In May, forestry consultant Jim Girvan predicted as many as 12 Interior mills would close in the next 10 years as the region’s timber harvests would need to be cut in half to let beetle-ravaged forests recover over several decades.
The industry hit a wall this summer with the collapse of lumber prices due to poor U.S. housing starts and skyrocketing costs to access ever-scarcer log supplies. That combination made many mills unprofitable, accelerating the announcement of permanent closures.
In total, the measures announced Tuesday include:
• $40 million for an early-retirement bridging program, cost-shared with companies, for older workers;
• $15 million in short-term forest employment programs, including fire prevention and resiliency projects;
• $12 million in additional programs and employer grants for skills training;
• $2 million for a new job placement coordination office that will track the transition and employment of impacted forest workers on an individual basis;
• community support programs to offer short-term assistance to communities more profoundly hit by the loss of a major employer.
Not included was a move to revise stumpage rates, the fees the province charges companies for cutting rights on Crown timber, which Donaldson said would upset Canada’s position in its softwood lumber dispute with the United States.
Donaldson said the province vows to continue offering its support, “but we need the forest industry and the federal government to step up and do their part as well.”
Industry representative Susan Yurkovich said the aid package has been “a collaborative effort,” and companies are pleased to see elements of cost-sharing with them on things such as early-retirement programs.
“Some of the downturn or curtailments are temporary,” said Yurkovich, CEO of the sector group Council of Forest Industries. She added that companies want to hang on to the employees that they can.
“We expect to have a vibrant industry going forward, and we want to make sure we have skilled workers to meet the needs we will have.”
On Monday, the Council of Forest Industries released its own plan for revitalizing the industry with a wish list that included more secure access to fibre and better support for market development and training.
The United Steelworkers, which represents some 12,000 forest workers in B.C., called on the province to establish a jobs-protection commissioner and adopt policies that strengthen the ties between forest resources and employment.
“The forest sector can and should have a bright future in B.C.,” said Jeff Bromley, wood council chairman for the union. “In this time of change in the industry, forest workers want to see the provincial government take bold steps to hold corporations accountable for their access to our public resource.”