Abitibi Bowater

Was both a day crew and "swing" crew electrician. Day crew electricians were primarily construction oreiented. Construction electrical has never been in my comfort zone as I have always done maintenance. In order to become a shift maintenance electrician you had to be high in senority. Swing crew personal only worked "shift" when shift people were off i.e Stat holidays, summer vacation etc. Found out that the two apprentices I was training had the last two years of their apprenticeship count towards journeyman status as per the collective agreement. This meant that they were ahead of me for a shift position. The dept. did not like people who did not come up through the ranks. Only those who had started with the company as labourers then obtained an apprenticeship were part of the family. This did not make for a good working envirnment. They had offered a substancial pay increase from my former position and the job was in my home town was a primary reason for taking the job. Kimberly Clark although offering less salary seemed to have a better culture.

I would start my day with operational consult, to update of any developing issues. Then decide what action was warranted, either enter breakdown mode, or minor repairs, or project building.
We would usually make some pipe, and always be ready for operational emergency, or special requests, Continue doing project work. I have had the pleasure of working with a great team of co-workers, management, and operations crews. The hardest part of the job was getting safe work /safe entry permits in place, as shut down and isolation, was a complicated procedure that took a lot of time. The best part of the job, was peer performance revue, relating what went well, problems that arose, and the pat on the back, knowing , another job well done.

I was posted in the labour pool and enjoyed the variety of jobs and working with different people.Helping co-workers and management for a common goal made me feel that I contributed.The hardest part of my job in the last two years was with all my efforts felt insecure as the market demand for our product had declined.
My favorite job at the mill was the loader operator in the flotation plant where I operated a Catipiller 970F feeding the in ground conveyor, controlling incoming recycle traffic,communicating via radio the control room and truckers.

  After being there for 29 years it has been a great learning experience working for Abitibi, good and bad days at work. Some of the management there were wonderful to work with others not so great.Co-workers were great and many turned out to be good friends are still are.The hardest part of of this job was when the company closed the doors but the best days were when we all work together and went home to our families after the shift was done.

Great group of people to work with and stimulating work for supply management professionals.  I learned skills I never dreamed I would (i.e. how to survive bankruptcy).

start 8:00am to 4:30pm
skills for successful jobs done
took all management courses available
some good, some bad
long hours on repair days  24 hrs straight
making freinds

fun. equipment. operator good to work for .nice to work with .none .do my own decision.

good exposure to operation side of power generation
operational view of plant

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