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  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

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Quintette Hiring to Make Up Shortfall

Recent History – 1998

By Alethea Wiesner,Daily News Staff,Nov. 9, 1998

A temporary production shortfall at the Quintette coal mine is good news for 31 workers who have been recalled to work.

The good news will be short-lived, however. Although the workers have been permanently recalled as according to the terms of the union contract, they will be laid off once again at the end of the coal year, March 31, 1999.

“We have some shortfalls in our coal contracts that we want to be sure we can fulfill before the end of the coal year, and we require some extra resources to do that”, said Russ Hallbauer, general manager of coal operations for Teck Corporation, holding company of the Quintette mine.

He estimates coal production would have been shy about 300,000 tons, one-tenth of the three million ton contract Quintette now holds with Japanese investors. The five-year contract, which took effect this April, meant a 30 per cent reduction in the mine’s output from 4.34 million tons.

That in turn meant a 30 per cent lay-off. This April 276 employees were laid off from the mine, a devastating blow to the community of Tumbler Ridge, whose population has since dropped by approximately a thousand.

Ironically enough, the Quintette mine ran an ad in last Saturday’ Edmonton Journal seeking heavy-duty mechanics. They would have just recalled previous employees, said mine manager Rob Scott, except all the heavy-duty mechanics who were laid off did so voluntarily and took a severance package.

“These people had it in their minds they were leaving anyway”, he explained. “At the end of the day they volunteered to be laid off.”

Scott added that no more layoffs are anticipated and that the current production shortfall is only because a new pit has been opened. Once the dust settles, so to speak, operations should run smoothly and the 31 workers will be laid off again.

 

This article is taken from the Peace River Block Daily News, Dawson Creek, with the permission of the publisher. The Daily News retains all rights relating to this material. The information in this article is intended solely for research or general interest purposes.

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