Ever since SaskPower made the decision to retire Units 4 and 5 at the Boundary Dam Power Station, we knew the day was coming in which there would be job losses at the local mines.
After all, if there was less demand for the coal, there would be fewer jobs. Unit 4 will close in 2021, and Unit 5 will shut down in 2024, so we thought there would be some time for the inevitable, but not a lot.
It’s unlikely that people expected job losses would come so soon.
We learned last week that up to 25 jobs were being axed from the workforce at its Estevan mine, citing a 21 per cent contraction of revenues. Westmoreland Mining LLC cited the current preference for natural gas and the imposition of carbon taxes on customers as reasons.
Voluntary layoffs and early retirements are options to minimize the number, but the bottom line is up to 25 people who were employed by the mine at the start of the year won’t have a job in a few weeks.
Those are 25 good-paying jobs that will no longer be in the community, and those losses carry a considerable spinoff.
For a community like Estevan, which has been through so much in the past few years, it’s yet another blow. It’s certainly a much harder blow than when Sherritt Coal laid off 23 people at the mines in 2014, back when the economy was stronger.
And we know that further layoffs are coming at the mines over the next few years.
Obviously, the biggest blow from this announcement will be for the employees who are laid off, regardless of whether it’s through early retirement or lack of seniority. It will put a strain on them and their families. Those who have started working at the mines in the past couple of years knew that this was an uncertain time, and they might not reach 40 years with the mines like those who came before them.
If 25 people step forward to take a voluntary layoff or early retirement, then it will be a tough way for their careers to end, and the mines will suffer from that loss of experience.
It’s also a tough time on the management of Westmoreland’s Estevan operations. They don’t want these employees gone, either.
One of the things that people from outside of mining communities don’t understand is the amount of pride that mining employees have in their work. These people are proud to say they are miners. They recognize the value of the work that they do, even if big city folks don’t.
In the case of coal miners, they knew that they have been supplying the fuel for the province’s electrical grid. They know they power Saskatchewan.
They have also made great friends through mining, friends they wouldn’t have otherwise.
This is something we have to consider when we think about job losses from mining. It’s not just as easy as telling someone to get retrained and to find a job in another sector.
This announcement also adds to the uncertainty facing Estevan, Bienfait and other communities at this time. If you don’t think your job will be affected, then you haven’t been paying attention to the value of mining in this area.
Some of these 25 people might be able to find work elsewhere in Estevan, but others will have to look to other communities, hurting every corner of the city.
And we need to view this as yet another reminder of the inevitable change in Estevan, and the need to do everything to prepare. And it’s a wakeup call for those who shrugged their shoulders and said we can wait until 2025 to have plans in place.
It’s why those who are involved with economic development in our city are playing such a vital role.
It’s why we need to bring in a new coal transition co-ordinator as quickly as possible. And it’s why it’s important to relentlessly promote Estevan as a place to live and a place to be, with opportunities that create excitement for residents and visitors.
