Liverpool mill workers hit with 5-week shutdown
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 | 10:51 AM ET
CBC News
AbitibiBowater Inc. is shutting down its mill in Nova Scotia's Queens County for five weeks, citing a decline in demand for newsprint.
Workers at the plant near Liverpool learned of the Dec. 21-Jan. 26 closure on Monday.
Vicki Conrad, New Democrat MLA for Queens, said the announcement is a clear sign that the recession is having an impact on the province's industries.
"This came as a shock to the workers at Bowater. They expected a shutdown for a week, not five weeks," Conrad said in a release.
"Demand for paper is down, so it wasn’t a complete surprise, but the uncertainty will make it a tough Christmas for the more than 350 families affected by the shutdown."
Conrad said she's hopeful the mill will reopen at the end of January.
Last month, AbitibiBowater president and CEO David Paterson said the company would cut back on newsprint capacity in 2009 because of a drop in demand and make "appropriate production decisions" through the next year.
The company has 27 pulp and paper facilities and 34 wood products facilities in the United States, Canada, the U.K. and South Korea.
