KAMLOOPS, B.C. (AP) -- Ainsworth Lumber is reducing the work week to four days for 310 employees at its mills in Savona and Lillooet, B.C. because of a downturn in the province's forestry sector.
The company has applied to Service Canada for a work-share program that allows employees to collect employment insurance benefits to compensate for lost time.
Brad Bennett, general manager of specialty plywood, says that as part of the program administered by the federal government, the company must provide a business improvement plan to work its way out of its current situation.
The Savona, B.C., mill first slowed its production when it laid off its weekend staff and will move to three shifts, 24 hours a day and four days a week.
The mill produces sheeting and concrete forming products and is caught in a slowdown in B.C.'s forestry industry caused by parity with the American dollar and a crash in U.S. housing starts.
The crisis in the forest industry caused Weyerhaeuser Co. to permanently close its Kamloops sawmill this month and lay off 200 workers. (Kamloops Daily News)
