‘Back to Alberta’: Laid-off Donkin cave workers contemplate their future

When Brian Guthro was called into work during a Donkin cave during his week off, he suspicion it could be for drug contrast or notice of a organisation change. Instead he got a layoff notice.

“They told me they were downsizing,” he said.

“I’m flattering upset. we adore my pursuit out there, it’s a good job, right. You can’t get a improved pursuit in Cape Breton.”

Guthro was one of 49 people laid off during a cave on Tuesday, a pierce a mine’s vice-president pronounced was required as a association attempts to boost prolongation to make a operation economically viable. All a laid-off miners are local Cape Bretoners.

After being laid off Tuesday, Mitch Tracey pronounced he will approaching have to cruise a lapse to Alberta for work. (CBC)

Vice-president Shannon Campbell pronounced miners have encountered distant more challenging conditions subterraneous than expected. He said the company, Kameron Coal Management, needs to take time to go by a regulatory routine in sequence to  refurbish a cave devise and move in new tradition equipment.

For people such as Guthro, a news came as a startle and means it would be “back to a out-west thing,” something he isn’t looking brazen to.

“They tell we that a mine’s going to be here for a subsequent 40 years and afterwards they glow you, ” he said. 

He pronounced he only finished a march that a association had sent him on, and assimilated a cave rescue team.

Laid-off miners are shown withdrawal Donkin Mine on Tuesday.

Like Guthro, Mitch Tracey found his thoughts flapping to Alberta on Tuesday, a place he suspicion he competence be finished with.

“A lot of people incited down jobs out west and all to work here and stay home,” he said.

That includes Tracey. He started during a cave 3 months ago.

“I theory it was entrance — they’re not creation income there so they had to do what they had to do,” he said.

“I’ll substantially conduct behind to Alberta.”

Business Minister Geoff MacLellan, also a MLA for Glace Bay, pronounced Tuesday’s news is unhappy though he believes it’s a proxy reversal for a cave he hopes can assistance a region’s economy. (CBC)

Business Minister Geoff MacLellan, also a MLA for Glace Bay, pronounced Tuesday, a pursuit waste are a unhappy development.

“First and foremost, 49 families got some flattering tough news today,” he told reporters in Halifax.

That’s never easy, pronounced MacLellan, though it’s generally formidable given a fad about a prospects of a cave when it ramped adult operations. Before a layoffs, a workforce had grown to 130 people.

‘A tough bump, for sure’

MacLellan pronounced he’s still anticipating a cave can assistance solve some of a region’s mercantile woes.

The company, a auxiliary of Cline Group, has done extensive investments in a operation, MacLellan said. The layoffs are “a proxy strike in a road, though it’s a tough bump, for sure,” he said.

“The long-term marketplace for spark is viable. This product, both in apportion and quality, is tip shelf. There’s going to be an general marketplace there and they’re going to need a workforce to get it out of a belligerent and get it to marketplace swiftly.”

No shortcuts on regulations

MacLellan pronounced a association appreciates a mining story in Nova Scotia and a tragedies of a past century.

While a supervision is peaceful to assistance with a regulatory process, there will be no corners cut to speed things up, he said.

“Absolutely no behind doors and to be transparent clear, [Kameron] have never asked for that from a province,” he said.

“They know that we’ve got to follow a acts and regulations.”

Shannon Campbell is vice-president of a Donkin mine. (CBC)

Campbell didn’t directly residence a doubt about efforts to unionize a mine.

“That’s adult to a workers. That’s unequivocally not adult to me,” he said.

“We’ll work with whoever. We consider that a particular has a improved position during representing themselves and we have an open-door process and we work really good with the employees.”

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/donkin-coal-mine-kameron-cline-group-layoffs-geoff-maclellan-1.4391030?cmp=rss