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BURNABY, BC – The United Steelworkers have asked BC Premier Gordon Campbell to help keep open a “green” New Westminster wood-manufacturing plant.

Noting that Canadian Forest Products’ Panel and Fibre Division turns “waste wood into useful products such as panels, eco-fibre and material for slope stability,” that the plant’s order books are full and that it provides the only source of its environmental products in Western North America, the USW today urged Campbell to either work with Canfor to keep the plant open or help find a buyer.

“Without Panel and Fibre, most of its inputs would be sent to the landfill, incinerated or burned in greenhouses, emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere of the Lower Mainland,” warns USW Western Canada Director Steve Hunt.

Canfor says it will close the plant as early as December 7 and Hunt notes that “time is running out” for the facility’s 125 employees and urges the Premier to ask as quickly as possible. 

“This is the sort of plant we’ve been told is the future of the BC forest industry:  green, value-added and not dependent on the US housing market.  We believe it is part of the solution to both the problems of the forest sector and our greenhouse gas emissions problems,” said Hunt.  “I can’t urge the Premier and his ministers more strongly to help us keep this place up and running.”

Steelworkers also released recent letter  from Canfor to workers at Panel and Fibre: on September 21, 2007 mill manager Frank Turnbull thanked workers for their efforts, noting that demand continues to outstrip production. “It’s an apparent success story and there’s no sign that the facility needed to be closed,” added Hunt.

Last week Steelworkers received the unanimous endorsement of the BC Federation of Labour’s Annual Convention for its efforts to keep open Panel and Fibre. The plant, formerly Pacific Veneer, was the operation that laid the basis for today’s Canfor, North America’s largest lumber producer. It sits on a 57-acre site that some observers believe Canfor now wants to sell for real-estate development

“But this is not about history,” noted Hunt; “it’s about the future.  This is the sort of green industry we need to keep our industry and the BC economy afloat, generating jobs and export earnings and help reduce our output of greenhouse gases.”

Contact:   Stephen Hunt 604.683.1117