Estevan– In dealing with the toughest downturn in the oilpatch in 30 years, Bert Baxter Transport of Estevan turned to a strategy it used back in the 1980s, work-sharing.
It’s a Service Canada program where workers put in reduced hours, but their income is supplemented through Employment Insurance.
Service Canada’s website describes it as “an adjustment program designed to help employers and employees avoid layoffs when there is a temporary reduction in the normal level of business activity that is beyond the control of the employer. The measure provides income support to employees eligible for Employment Insurance benefits who work a temporarily reduced work week while their employer recovers.
“Work-Sharing is a three-party agreement involving employers, employees and Service Canada. Employees on a Work-Sharing agreement must agree to a reduced schedule of work and to share the available work over a specified period of time.”
“It hit everybody. We’re all in the same boat,” said Todd Shirley, who heads up the family-owned and operated business.
“We reduced hours,” he said, adding they started on the Work-Sharing program five months ago. It took about three weeks to set up this time
As a result, they haven’t had to do a lot of layoffs.
“We did a few, but very few,” Shirley said.
Usually they would buy three trucks a year. Not now.
“We’re doing zero expenditures,” he noted, adding they’ve parked probably 15 to 20 trucks out of a fleet of 86 and pulled their licence plates.
“The oilpatch is down everywhere, not just here.”
Drilling activity is down by over half since January, and the companies closest to the drill bit are among those seeing the most impact of the downturn.
“We do a lot of pipe. Maybe a quarter of our business is tied to drilling. It’s hit the hardest. In the good times, it was up to 50 per cent tied to drilling.”
Service rig business is also down as hard, he noted.
“The whole industry’s dropped a lot,” Shirley said. “This is one of the worst (downturns) I’ve seen. I think this is harder than ’86.”
Back then, Bert Baxter Transport, one of the oldest companies in the southeast Saskatchewan oilpatch, did just what they are doing now – Work-Sharing.
Asked when he thinks things will turn around, Shirley said, “I can’t even give you a guess. When oil prices are back up, things will pick up. She’s just a waiting game.
“There are no guarantees in the oilpatch,” he concluded.
