About 50 Tolko Industries employees in Williams Lake will be impacted by two weeks of unscheduled downtime at its Lakeview sawmill operations.
Employees were notified earlier Monday, May 15, that the last day of production will be Friday, May 19 and operations will resume on Monday, June 5. Lakeview’s shipping and planer operations will continue to operate during the downtime.
The company is pointing the blame on significantly high log costs and a lack of available economic fibre which continues to impact Tolko’s ability to run at a higher capacity.
“While our goal is to ensure consistency and stability for all of our operations, the steep decline in lumber demand and upward cost pressures in the province unfortunately make this a necessary decision,” noted Troy Connolly, vice president of solid wood, in a news release issued Monday.
“This downtime affects our employees and we do not take this action lightly,” says Connolly. “We have an extremely committed workforce at Lakeview whose families and communities rely on Tolko and the B.C. timber industry. We will continue to support our employees during this challenging time.”
Approximately 50 employees will be impacted and the potential for approximately 10 million board feet of lumber will be removed from production.
READ MORE: Mill closures threaten to punch holes in the fabric of rural B.C. towns
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