Wabush Mines to lay off 130 workers

Wabush Mines will lay off 130 unionized workers — almost half of its unionized workforce — and 30 non-union workers from its operation in Labrador West.

The announcement of cuts at the iron ore mine located in western Labrador came during a meeting Tuesday of company officials with the executive of the United Steelworkers union local.

Union president Lloyd Hunter had few words as he went from the meeting where he learned that layoffs would start in February to a meeting with his executive to discuss how to handle the job cuts.

"Not good, the membership is not good. Until we have our executive meeting that's all I have to say now," he said.

It's not known if the union will deliver details of which jobs are being cut in the various departments, later Tuesday night or early Wednesday, but Hunter said there is a lot of work to be done.

It's also uncertain if any of those numbers will include people who are retiring, which could help some of the younger workforce.

Wabush Mines advised employees in a memo dated Nov. 19  that it needed to lay off staff and slash production levels to cope with what company officials called the most difficult time in Wabush Mines' history.

Company officials blamed the production cuts on the current global economic slump.