Updated at 10:37 a.m. Friday, June 15.
HALIFAX – The town of Liverpool, N.S. got the news it had been dreading this morning, with the announcement the Bowater Mersey paper mill would be idled indefinitely.
Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products broke the news to union executives, saying the doors would be shut as of noon Saturday.
“This is not anybody’s fault,” Resolute’s Vice President of Corporate Communications, Sustainability and Government Affairs Seth Kursman told Global News in a telephone interview. “People did what was in their power to do. People stepped up to the challenge that was put in front of them and that makes this especially difficult.”
Kursman says the current state of the market and currency led to the indefinite idling. “(It’s) not anything that people locally or people in Montreal headquarters or the government in Halifax can fundamentally change.”
The company is not saying it’s shutting down the facility, located in nearby Brooklyn, permanently, but it has no plans to reopen the facility.
Get daily National news
“We were advised that our mill will be idled indefinitely and they would be looking to cease paper production my noon tomorrow and then proceed with the orderly shutdown of the mill,” says Kevin Evans, spokesperson for Local 141 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.
“Everybody is disappointed… but after the rumour I don’t think anyone was shocked,” he says. “I think the comments made yesterday prepared most of us for what was going to be said.
Premier Darrell Dexter suggested Thursday there would be a new development concerning the mill’s future.
Dexter is set to speak to reporters at 11:45 a.m. today.
Unionized workers voted last year to cut 110 jobs in hopes of saving the mill by reducing costs.
The mill closed temporarily last month, the third time in the last six months.
In December, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter announced a $25-million forgivable loan to the firm in $5-million yearly portions.
He said on Thursday that the money hasn’t been spent yet.
The company says about 320 workers at the mill and associated woodlands will be affected by the indefinite shut down.
More details as they come.
*With files from The Canadian Press
Full statement from Resolute Forest Products.Unionized workers voted last year to cut 110 jobs in hopes of saving the mill by reducing costs.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.