On the heels of the recent announcement that curbed Kruger’s logging rights, the company is now laying-off 153 work…
On the heels of the recent announcement that curbed Kruger’s logging rights, the company is now laying-off 153 workers. A decision handed down by the Quebec Superior Court that forbids Kruger from harvesting on Ile Ren-Levasseur has prompted the company to slash 91 jobs in the forest, and to eliminate one work shift at each of the Manic and HCN sawmills and one at the Longue Rive dressing and drying plant. The Betsiamites Innu sought and were granted the injunction, as they had long considered the piece of land in question to be sacred.
According to Kruger, the revoked rights imply a 44% reduction in its forest volume. "Granting of the Safeguard Order deprives Kruger of 288,000 metres of wood, to which we must add the loss of 200,000 cubic metres related to implementation of recommendations from the Coulombe Commission," explained Jean Majeu, the company’s vice president of corporate affairs. "[We] would also like to point out that Ile Ren-Levasseur constitutes the only economically viable access route to the forest volume situated on the mainland, to the north of the island," he added.
Kruger is meeting with union officials on June 21st in an effort to find a solution that will permit it to continue its harvesting and forest management activities on the North Shore.
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