Temporary layoffs announced at Goderich salt mine

A mild winter is being blamed for 87 miners and maintenance staff being laid off at Goderich’s salt mine.

Compass Minerals said a large stockpile of de-icing salt they’ve accumulated over the winter due to milder than expected conditions, means they need to, “decrease production at our Goderich mine to better balance our supply with customer demand.”

While seasonal layoffs are not unheard of at the Goderich mine, it is the first time there have been employees laid off in the past four years.

Compass Minerals called the layoffs “temporary” and “if market conditions improve, look forward to bringing impacted employees back to work.”

A two-week long strike over wages and working conditions, by 15 security guards at the Goderich mine, came to a conclusion last week.

The guards are employed by Logixx Security, headquartered in Regina, Sask., who have a contract with Compass Minerals to provide security to the mine property.

Security guards at the salt mine were last in job action in 2017.

In 2018, 350 miners and mine staff in Goderich went on strike for 12 weeks, seeking better wages and working conditions.

The current temporary layoff will impact approximately 22 per cent of the unionized workforce of nearly 400 employees.

Compass’ Goderich salt mine, is the largest rock salt mine in the world.

Statement about the layoffs from Compass Minerals

“As a result of unseasonably weak winter activity in our North American served market, our company’s logistics network is currently carrying high de-icing salt inventory levels. We are therefore taking steps to decrease production at our Goderich mine to better balance our supply with customer demand. Doing so will unfortunately require temporary layoffs of approximately 22 percent of the mine’s represented employees as we work through the inventory on hand. We will continue to provide certain employee benefits during this temporary layoff period and, if market conditions improve, look forward bringing impacted employees back to work.”