By Monica Lamb-Yorski
It is a difficult day at Mount Polley as 120 employees are learning they will be laid off, United Steelworkers Union Local 4-125 president Paul French confirmed on May 5.
"I do know Mount Polley is doing its tailgate meetings and talking to the affected crews and there are shift changes tomorrow as well," French said, adding the layoffs will mostly impact equipment operators and truck drivers.
The layoff of 120 people equals more than half of the unionized employees at the mine, he noted.
"We knew this day was coming. That's why we've been pushing so hard to try and be positive on the temporary restart permit and have the mine do what it needed to do to have it submitted and everything done correctly,"
Imperial Metals vice-president of corporate affairs Steve Robertson said the company has finished the construction of the cut-off wall and have resized the workforce to reflect that.
"Crews continue to work on the restoration of Hazeltine Creek and we continue to work hard to complete our permitting in order to get our dedicated workers back to their jobs in an operating environment at the earliest possible time."
Describing the layoffs as "tremendous," French said the union will do everything it can to get people back to work.
"We have to put pressure on the government that if the application for restart is there not to wait. Any restart has to be done properly and cannot be forced through if it isn't correct, but we are hopeful what Mount Polley has proposed will work."
During a telephone conference with the Cariboo Regional District on April 24, the Ministry of Mines stated it hopes to make a decision on the temporary permit by mid-June.
Monica Lamb-Yorski is a Williams Lake Tribune reporter.