Sherritt laying off 23 workers at pair of Saskatchewan mines
by The Canadian Press
Cuts mainly affect equipment operators at company's mines in Estevan and Bienfait
ESTEVAN, Sask.—A union official says Sherritt International Corp. is laying off 23 workers at its coal mines in southeastern Saskatchewan.
The cuts mainly affect equipment operators at the company’s mines in Estevan and Bienfait, which supply coal to SaskPower’s Boundary Dam and Shand thermal electric generating stations.
Some of the workers who are losing their jobs were employed at the company’s activated carbon plant in Bienfait, about 30 kilometres north of the Canada-United States border.
The president of the United Mine Workers of America Local 7606 says the layoffs, which will be effective April 11, came as a surprise.
Rick Dowhaniuk says there was no notice at all.
Dowhaniuk says the cuts are part of a reorganization by Sherritt, which is headquartered in Toronto.
In December, the company announced it was selling its three mines in Saskatchewan to Colorado-based Westmoreland Coal Co.
