Tuesday afternoon, Unifor Quebec announced that 275 workers at the RYAM Témiscaming plant have been laid off.
The initial layoff announcement came in late April when Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) sent word that it would be suspending operations at its Témiscaming High Purity Cellulose plant.
At that time, BayToday reached out to Témiscaming’s mayor, Pierre Gingras, who emphasized, “We are a single industry town,” and the layoffs “will have a major impact on our citizens, our town, and the entire region.”
See related: RYAM layoff ‘seems to be the beginning of the end,’ union leader worries
The mayor mentioned that local MP Daniel Bernard was petitioning the government to somehow halt the layoffs, but RYAM’s decision stood. Not long ago, about two weeks before RYAM’s initial announcement, the Mayor learned that the Bearn sawmill, about an hour from town, was also closing “for an indefinite period.”
“The forestry industry is in peril,” Mayor Gingras warned in May, “and swift action will be necessary.”
See: Major layoffs announced at Temiscaming RYAM plant
Stéphane Lefebvre, President of Unifor Local 233 – which represents many RYAM workers in Témiscaming – noted in early May that “an entire town is in peril as a result of the unilateral decision of an American company that seems to place little importance on the fate of Témiscaming workers.”
BayToday reached out to Lefebvre for further comment but did not hear back before publication time.
