By Andru McCracken

According to the president of Steelworkers 1-417, roughly forty employees showed up to vote on a proposal from Carrier Lumber and every one of them voted in favour of a contract presented by Bill Kordyban, the new owner of Valemount Forest Products.

The union meeting took place last Tuesday evening at the senior’s hall.

“What we’ve really done is agreed to take on his procedures from his Prince George Mill,” said union president Marty Gibbons. “We’re going to take a leap of faith. We’re going to see if he can live up to his word.”

There were some concessions that employees decided to live with. Shirley Gonyou said that they agreed to contract out four or five jobs. “Contracting out is a dirty word for us,” she said.

Gibbons has faith that Kordyban can make a go of the mill if anyone can.

“He is a shrewd businessman and he runs a really nice operation in Prince George,” said Gibbons.

He said that single biggest problem in Valemount is that owners have not invested in the mill.

“We need someone like Bill to manage it properly and invest back in the operation,” he said.

Union members hope that the mill will start up in the fall or winter, and recognize that the planer won’t be running to start.

“You won’t see as many jobs as there were before. Bill is not committing to anything,” said Gibbons. “There will be a small log line, about two thirds of the operation.”

They anticipate that when the mill does start up it will employ between 20 and 50 employees depending on the number of shifts.

“It’s 20 people making over $20 an hour,” said Gibbons.

In correspondence with the union, Kordyban said that the planer won’t be running because of the expense and inefficiency of the existing kiln. As a result, rough lumber would be shipped to Prince George to be dried and planed.

“This proposal in no way affects benefits or wage levels,” said Gibbons. “This is a concession, but he never came to us asking for money. He came to us with how he wants to run his mill.

“It’s going to be inconvenient for our members compare to what they had, but less inconvenient than EI.”

Kordyban wasn’t available for comment before the cutoff for this publication.