Calgary oil patch keen to get laid-off Irish workers from Saskatchewan

A group of skilled workers from Ireland who were unexpectedly laid-off from jobs lined up for them in Saskatchewan have caught the attention of a Calgary-based oilfield contractor.

About 20 pipefitters arrived in Saskatchewan in recent months to work on the expansion of a potash mine.

Project delays, however, meant the workers will not be needed again until January, 2013.

Mark Wrightson, a Calgary-based oilfield contractor told CBC News he needs skilled workers.

It was not immediately clear if the laid-off Saskatchewan workers had the necessary documentation to take their skills elsewhere.

One of the workers who received a lay-off notice about two weeks ago, told CBC News it came as a shock.

"I was gutted," Derek Brennan said. "Because I planned for my family to come out here later."

Brennan said the workers had been promised two years of work in Saskatchewan.

Daniel Dunne, another worker from Ireland in the same predicament, said he does not know what he will do next.

"My wife is in total and utter shock," Dunne said. "She's coming out to a country — a strange country — on Tuesday and her husband's unemployed."

The contractor on the potash mine expansion said the construction delays were unexpected and the workers were offered jobs in another location.

But the workers declined saying the work was temporary and may not have lasted more than week.