millwright

journalier de production

driver

électromécanicien

laborer

Cascades

It's just a job, and for many who aren't as lucky don't have work, we've had trouble holding on to people mainly because of the pay, or dealing with drama in the workplace but that's a people problem mostly. They just walk down the street and see signs up with higher pay. Most positions are not paid fairly enough, but the company does have good benefits. Low wages at a time when costs are going up, can lead to major loss of employees as they have no other choice but to find better paying jobs, we have felt this heavily these past few years, and have lost many workers. The jobs on the floor can be very stressful, learning to cope and work with that stress is a challenge. We have busy days where workload goes to extremes, and slow days. Good thing is that means there's always work and there's less of a chance of losing your job, or dealing with unfortunate layoffs. Good friendly staff, and I do like many of our Roll off drivers, good friendly easy going people surely helps the days go by faster. The most enjoyable part of the job is meeting new people, I've had the opportunity of meeting several new people, a special thanks to our management team. I have never seen that many people quit in any place I've been at, I have learned many new skills through this company and got the opportunity to drive equipment something I may never have had the opportunity elsewhere. The hardest part of the job has to be dealing with dirtier loads in a timely manner, both dirty and clean side, removing cardboard off of stapled skids at times some of this can get very ridiculous, or the loads are not proper, the most hardest part of the job is a balance of trying to keep everyone happy, or atleast understanding the current situations. Management can't seem to be on the same page, they all come in and want things done their way, most can't even agree on how the place should be run, when the business isn't a new business ideas become flip flop, doing it one way, years go by you do it another way, years go by again and you do it the way you did it years ago again, or they come in and tell you to do exactly what you were doing with or without them there, they really like to confuse people, or they'll tell you something and then moments later yell at you for doing as they asked..

Worked at Cascades Recovery in Calgary for about 3 months. Was let go one day after returning from 14 day quarantine due to COVID-19 that I received while at Cascades. The maintenance supervisor had brought COVID to work (failing to abide by his own workplace rules) and multiple maintenance staff ended up testing positive. When I returned, HR and Supervisors took no action to inform WCB of my illness. I had to submit a claim after hours on my own time to make sure my safety and well being was being looked after.

I initially thought very good things about this company. I was a two ticket journeyman with two red seals and was hired at 34$/hr (which is good in Calgary given the economy). But the reality is the maintenance department has a complete disregard for safety (as is evidenced by a supervisor coming to work with COVID and passing it around). They will ask you to operate mobile equipment without a license and work from heights without any fall protection. It's pretty routine to be 20+ ft off the ground walking on conveyors cleaning and repairing them without any means of a lifeline should you accidentally trip of make a wrong move. Working on ladders with one foot one the ladder and one foot on something else reaching to do work is also common. Welding in the shop around brake clean and other explosive aerosol cans is common. 
The same supervisor who came to work with COVID tried to weld a hydraulic piping elbow in place without emptying the oil out of the reservoir or isolating the pipe. Obviously not to much regard for fire or explosion hazards. The night shift lead hand doesn't believe in lock-out with an excuse being the plant is down so we don't need to lock out.

Just a getter' done mentality that sees more mistakes being made than anything. Both night shift supervisors have no technical training at all so you better be ready to be a monkey and just hammer it in. 

This place is very unsafe. I would only recommend working here if you absolutely need the money. A fellow co-worker had his hand crushed months before I started.

A lot of people there are good employees. Some remember where they came from and are humble, helpful and genuinely decent human beings.  Others are on a pedestal and will constantly attempt to make you feel like it’s a privilege to be in the same room as them.

Labour pool system in Trenton is a joke (where you will start). Only considered a part time employee (some in management will remind you just in case you forget) even though you work multiple 60 hour weeks. No benefits, not allowed to have a uniform, no job security and shifts are changed consistently with no notice so if you try to have a life outside of the mill or you have kids, good luck. They expect you to do this for many years and the entire time you’re in the labour pool, it doesn’t count for anything.

Once you finally get a full time job there, you still have a 600 hour probationary period even after multiple years of walking on eggshells in the labour pool. Life gets better once you get to this point other than a 2 tier pay system where some can get $4+ an hour for doing the same job as you. 

Lots of retention issues on the production, maintenance and management sides. Just can’t keep people for some reason (read labour pool section again). 

Supervisors are good and many have lots of experience from being members of production so they get it. Multiple management members have either been fired or resigned so not sure what is the issue is but it almost resembles a revolving door. 

Hopeful for an improvement but it seems like a conversation to make that happen is always on the back burner. 


A typical day at work would be starting my day by checking my email's and making sure that all shipments scheduled for the day before were received. If they were not, then part of my job was track down where the trucks are and when they would be delivered to the mills. Then I would enter all the Bills of Lading that I received for the previous day. I would correspond with the different across Canada and the US to ensure that they were happy with what they received.
I learned how to input Bills of Lading into the system and also how the selling and buying of material was done. I really enjoyed working with this Manager as she was not your typical Manager. She was very easy going and friendly, of course to a certain extent. She would join in on conversations in the lunch room and really showed an interest not only in our lives but also our personal lives, wanting to make sure that we were not stressed when we left the office, that out shift times were working with our families. Just little things that some Managers I have had in the past do not take the time to ask. My co-workers were awesome and very helpful. They were extremely patient with me when I first started and had no trouble helping me when I needed it. They were also the funnest co-workers I have ever worked with. The hardest part about my job was when a delivery was not picked up and I was not getting a reason a why. The most enjoyable part of this job (besides the pay check), was the fact that everyone had so much fun while doing their own work.

Never missed a day, never late, and always put in a ton of effort. Despite that I was fired during a midnight shift as I was in the middle of working. They did it with just over an hour to go so essentially they got what they wanted from me for the day and then tossed me like trash. They did the same thing to multiple other people during the week so I was worried it was coming. This was also a couple weeks away from Christmas, absolutely inhumane. I was relying on a ride from someone who worked there, and they knew that. Despite that they escorted me out of the building where I waited in below freezing temperatures. 

They do not care about you, they do not care about how physical and tiring certain positions are and they’ll keep you there until you’re exhausted with no regard. The pay is $3 above minimum wage but you’ll work rotating shifts which will ruin your life outside of work. Avoid this place at all costs. You are not human to them. They preach about safety, and being part of a team, but as you can guess this is a facade. Everything is simply covering liabilities. They could not care less if anyone is hurt physically or emotionally, their only concern is whether or not they could be found culpable. 

Not an overly caring company. They will pretend to listen to employee input.. even agree with it.. and then fail to follow through. They don't supply proper protection for their employees or even uniforms. The gloves, sleeves, dust masks and safety glasses they supply you with are all as cheap as can be and hardly provide you with any peace of mind when dealing with copious amounts of dust, sharp metal and potentially used needles for up to 10 hours a day. This is a very dirty job, any clothes you wear to work will be totally ruined. The management likes to threaten peoples jobs to provide incentive rather than doing something positive. I wouldn't recommend working here for anyone unless they literally cant find anything else or have a criminal record (they don't do background checks) and even then you can probably find something better... and above all.. this is one of the lowest paid labour positions I have ever encountered. The hours are all over the place and never consistent. I could sit here and complain all day about this employer. People I work with have gone a upwards of 1 year without being given a raise.. and I personally wasn't given one after 90 days even with perfect attendance and nothing but praise for the effort I was putting in.

Co-workers are friendly and welcoming to new employees, they are always willing to provide assistance. All new members must wear a bright green shirt so that other staff know that the person is new and may need extra assistance. The company is very focused on employee safety with monthly safety meetings and on-site training; however, they do not check the temperature regularly or provide heat relief breaks in the hot months of the summer. The workplace is very clean with daily cleaning on each machine, as well as attempting to keep the dust in the air to a minimum. Management does a poor job of communicating with the employees. They do not communicate what is expected of you, or how you can improve. After working for 4 months as a student, I applied to be hired on full time; my application was approved and I had to re-start my probation. I remained on the same line that I had been on all summer without changing how I was performing my daily tasks and my employment was terminated within two weeks without providing a reason for my termination.

By far the worst place I have ever worked- unsafe and extremely dirty ( I am not afraid to get dirty) No air purification system in place, toxic dust all over the place- I guess that is why the only good thing about this place is the decent pay. They also do not fix their roof, and it leaks when it rains and they fix it with tarps, houses and garbage cans that sit around for days. Someone please tell me there is no contaminants in that water. How is that safe? 

There was little to no training when I started and I was asked to read all the H&S training on my own time before starting the job-not paid. I worked here for 6 months and was let go 12 hours before my probation was up. My first review was good, second review was not good yet nothing had changed with my work ethic. 

Y’all don’t know me but I work hard , this place doesn’t know hard work. So if you like to stand around apply. 

If anyone wants to find out for themselves apply here and accept the job. It doesn’t matter if you’re a good worker. They hire people when they need extra help for their “unionized employees.” There is also a lack of strong leadership in this workplace. They have been through over 3 plant managers in the past year.

People on the floor are great. Management and upper management pretend to be your friends. They lie and cheat  to get themselves ahead. They talk about having the right people on the bus but when they need someone to blame poor performance on they will throw you right under that bus.
You give them your best and sacrifice your family time for the company for years and how will they repay you? They treat you like trash and cast you out. Then the bad dreams start. You felt like you had friends there and had spent so much time in the plant that it has become a part of you. You brain can’t seem to let go. You dream your still there every night but it’s not a good dream because they had tossed you away. I would recommend  management start practicing what they preach, only then could they Win friends and influence people and go from good to great. I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune….Your golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasurably because of it. I Wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy, it’s just sickening what they do to people.

Company makes you promises and never follows through. Anything they come through with can be reversed at their whim any time with or without justification. In other words they can be very hypocritical.
  During this time of awarness through the Covid 19 epidemic the company has taken very little or no precautions to protect drivers. No disposable gloves, not even a bottle of hand sanitizer to carry in the truck. (If you want protection, you provide it at your expense.) They will flaunt labour law at any opportunity they get, or come so close to breaking it it runs into a grey area that could go either way. Some things are kept buried and not even brought to light for fear of reprisal.
  Most equipment is old. They try to maintain it but in most cases it is in for repairs on a regular basis.
  Consideration for efficient routes to economize fuel, time and wear on the vehicles is non existent. For a company that proclaims to be a "Green Company" you sure don't see it here. For a company that is so large they have a problem with spending a dollar for what others may consider no brainer common sense decisions.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Millwright 12 salaries reported	$41.72 per hour
Journalier de production 8 salaries reported	$24.92 per hour
Driver 1 salary reported	$29.22 per hour
Électromécanicien 7 salaries reported	$34.63 per hour
Laborer 10 salaries reported	$21.19 per hour

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