In Rearview Mirror 2024 we are going to take a look at the year's top stories, culminating in a vote by readers for the BayToday "Top Story" of 2024 and "Newsmaker" of 2024.
To simplify things, our reporters have condensed the monthly top stories starting in January and running through to December.
To start July, Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) workers were on the picket line province-wide in a strike action affecting more than 9,000 employees, including approximately 140 in the North Bay area.
Wayne Young is a full-time customer service employee at the LCBO with 19 years of service. "It is very much disappointing, as has been pointed out, the Board and its employees have never gone on strike in the 97-year history of the LCBO."
See: Disappointed LCBO workers on the picket lines in North Bay
Union leaders in Témiscaming were calling the layoffs at RYAM a "crisis." There was little joy in Témiscaming, especially for workers at Rayonier Advanced Materials, many of whom lost their jobs. Stéphane Lefebvre is the president of Unifor Local 233;
“A sombre mood,” was how he summed up the atmosphere on the job. “We shut down the drive machine for the specialty cellulose yesterday,” he said, and now, they’re working to “mothball” the area, “shut the lights off, and put it to bed.”
“This is a crisis, this is my community in crisis,” he emphasized. “The governments are sitting on their hands.”
See: ‘Sombre mood’ in Témiscaming as layoffs made official
See January here.
See February here.
See March here.
See April here
See May here.
See June here.
