Forest Products Industry Calls on Government to Take Immediate Action
February 20 2007, Ottawa, ON
In a letter to the federal Minister of Labour, the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) today called on the government to take urgent action to bring to an end the ongoing strike by CN’s 2,300 freight conductors and switching yard employees.
“The 340,000 forest products workers and the more than 320 communities that depend so heavily on our sector are being held hostage by this strike. The current service disruption has already led to the industry incurring significant costs and will lead to mill shut downs if it is not resolved over the immediate days ahead. Clearly, a prolonged dispute could have disastrous economic consequences for Canada’s economy,” said Avrim Lazar, President and CEO of FPAC.
“The forest products industry is one of Canada’s single largest users of freight rail services, annually shipping by rail millions of tonnes of finished product. As most of the industry’s mills are located in remote areas where rail service is the only viable transportation mode, other forms of ground transportation are either too costly or unavailable to provide our companies with relief, making our sector particularly vulnerable to even the shortest disruptions in service,” added Lazar.
FPAC is the voice of Canada’s wood, pulp and paper producers nationally and internationally in government, trade and environmental affairs. Canada’s forest industry represents 3% of Canada’s GDP and exports over $40 billion of wood, pulp and paper annually. The industry is one of Canada’s largest employers, operating in over 320 Canadian communities and providing nearly 900,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country.
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For more information, contact:
Isabelle Des Chênes
Director, Communications
Forest Products Association of Canada
(613) 563-1441 ext: 323
ideschenes@fpac.ca
