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Workers concerned, disappointed by permanent layoffs from Cameco

Jul 26, 2018 | 2:00 PM

Hundreds of workers at mining operations in northern Saskatchewan have been in touch with their local unions following news that Cameco plans to permanently lay off hundreds of workers at the McArthur Lake and Key Lake uranium operations.

The workers are worried and concerned, and are left with few other options for employment in northern Saskatchewan, according to United Steelworkers Local 8914 Union President Denis O’Hara. The workers are eligible for employment insurance benefits and Cameco has agreed to pay health benefits and a 75 per cent top-up of wages until November 15, but O’Hara said the employees still have a tough decision to make.

“Following November 15, their name either goes on a three-year recall list – in other words they will still be Cameco employees for the next 36 months – or they can apply for a severance package and terminate their employment,” O’Hara said Thursday. “Fifty per cent of the union workforce is of Aboriginal ancestry, most of whom live in northern communities where there’s no job opportunities.”

Cameco announced Wednesday that it would permanently lay off the workers who have been temporarily laid off since January. The company said the decision is due to low uranium prices and a surplus of supply in stores around the world.

The job losses include 550 workers at Cameco’s McArthur Lake and Key Lake site, and another 150 from the company’s corporate office. About 200 workers will keep their jobs in the north in order to maintain the site and facilities, the company said.

Dave McIlmoyal, President of Northern Resource Trucking, said the company laid off about 20 drivers back in January when the temporary layoffs were announced and will likely make those layoffs permanent now. NRT has been working in the north for more than 30 years, he said, and has been actively looking for new routes in Ontario, Manitoba, northern Alberta, and northern British Columbia.

The company has weathered downturns in the mining industry before, but McIlmoyal said Cameco’s announcement will have a big impact on residents of northern Saskatchewan.

“We have the equipment and the people that are used in places like the oil patch and other industrial settings and that sort of thing, so we’re just leveraging the skills that we had in the uranium mining industry to expand and survive,” McIlmoyal told paNOW. “I certainly don’t want to minimize the impact, but we’re a little different because trucks can move other places … but it’s a very difficult time for all of us.”

 

charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt