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Workers, businesses in shock over potash layoffs in Lanigan

Dec 4, 2013 | 6:35 AM

A group of men joke as they sit around a table at the local union building in Lanigan, but the topic they're discussing is no laughing matter.

People in town are still grappling with the shocking news that 240 workers were laid off from the town's potash mine Tuesday morning.

About 70 workers are from the Lanigan area, like Jamie Deederly.

“I didn't even get a phone call or nothing, I went in (to work) to see traffic, people, chaos. It's brutal, it's not a good feeling,” he said while sitting at a long table, sifting through papers.

Ken Manyk is from the nearby community of Jansen. Even though he was expecting some temporary layoffs in January, losing his job just weeks before Christmas was a complete blindside, he said.

“'There's no layoffs coming', one of the top guys out there told me that yesterday. This morning I get a call saying I don't have a job. Quite a difference.”

Manyk hopes he won't have to move away, but said it will be difficult to find another job in the area.

“Especially this time of the year. You know, it's two weeks before Christmas, small town, what jobs are there around here now? Summertime, there's lots of jobs,” he said.

Business owners said they expect a trickle down effect if those families move away—like less kids in hockey, and less people buying things like groceries.

Many potash workers in Lanigan frequent the Esso gas station, where owner Ken Williams has gotten to know them as both customers and friends.

“Definitely it will affect us. For sure, it will change things a lot,” he said.

“It was just a shock for us, it really was. We thought we had a real vibrant community going on here; we had PCS operating really well out there, and with BHP operating out here we thought we were a real hot spot in this province. So when this happens it just really sends a shiver up our back.” 

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