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Jobless mill worker talks about his struggles
By JIM KELLY
Monday, August 25, 2008

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Allen Otway and his wife Patty take part in the CEP picnic held Sunday at Chippewa Park for laid-off paper mill workers.

Federal NDP Leaders Jack Layton blasted Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday for ignoring the forestry crisis in Northern Ontario.
Layton met reporters at a Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) picnic at Chippewa Park.
Perhaps labour rally might be a better word to describe the gathering as top CEP national officials also were present as was provincial NDP Leader Howard Hampton.
Layton didn‘t waste any time going on the attack against Harper.
“I‘ve asked the prime minister time and time again when is he going to do something about forestry and manufacturing jobs being lost,” Layton said.
“He (Harper) said people are getting other kinds of work. I‘ve been talking to workers who have been getting those other kinds of work.
“They‘re part-time, minimum wage, a little bit here and a little bit there,” Layton said.
“They‘re losing their homes and they can‘t pay their mortgages. If that‘s his view, he‘s wrong.‘‘
Layton may have been speaking of someone like Allen Otway.
Otway, 33, had been working at Abitibi‘s Mission mill since 2003 when he was laid off in May 2007.
He went from a $33-an-hour full-time job to a two-month temporary stint at Canada Post as Christmas help.
He is married with two young children.
“We‘re struggling just to pay the regular bills,” he said Sunday.
“There‘s nothing here, there are no jobs. Sure, you can get a job at Tim Hortons at minimum wage, but that‘s not going to pay the bills,” Otway said.
He‘s considering moving to Winnipeg where, he said, there are job opportunities.
“I don‘t want to leave but if we have to, we have to,” he said.
Otway, who took a computer course at Confederation College, can‘t find work in that field either.
Layton said his party wants to put people like Otway back to work.
“Forestry is the backbone of the Northwestern Ontario economy,” Layton said.
“We want to see an NDP government so that the forestry sector can be the focus of industrial strategy, government investment, partnerships with the workers and companies here as well as working with the municipal coalition that‘s bringing everyone together around a northern infrastructure,” he said.
He said the only way to turn the situation around is for the government to get serious about addressing the problems in the forestry sector.
“We shouldn‘t just turn over the decisions to the boardroom table wherever that head office happens to be,” Layton said.
He predicted the next federal election is “coming very soon.”
“It looks to me like (Harper) made up his mind. If he‘s not willing to do his job as prime minister and he‘d rather quit, then he can explain that failure to the Canadian people.”
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