The president of the Local United Steelworkers Union is disappointed by the temporary cutbacks at the Vavenby sawmill.

The six-week cutback will begin on February 11, and Canfor is blaming it on the supply and price of logs as well as current market conditions.

But Marty Gibbons says Canfor hasn’t been forthcoming with log supply and other issues in the area.

“Our workers have gone through a number of shutdowns up to this point in time,” he said in an interview. “Although, we’ve heard rumblings and suggestions and rumours, this six-week shutdown caught us off guard.”

“I’m going to have to go out on a limb here and hope that a major corporation like Canfor can have a little more foresight than a week to let their workers who rely on these jobs know what is going on.”

The cutback will affect about 160 unionized workers in Vavenby.

“This is a huge effect on our community,” Gibbons added. “It’s going to be felt by a lot of individuals.”

“It’s going to be felt by the truckers and by the loggers in addition to the workers at the mill and the community in general. This is going to hurt. We are [in terms of large industry] the only show in town.”

In his estimation, over the last six months, workers in Vavenby have already had about a month off due to previous cutbacks.

This morning one week cutbacks were also announced at Canfor sawmills in Houston and Mackenzie.

Canfor estimates these cuts will reduce production by about 40 million board feet. That’s over and above the 150 million board feet in production cuts announced late last year and early this year.