opérateur

opérateur de machine

mécanicien de machines fixes

électrotechnicien

chef de projet

Domtar Espanola

The difference in work environment that I noticed during my 4 years was surprising.   Initially upon hiring, you are required to complete a 4 month rotation though the three difference "areas" of the mill and then are placed in your permeant area.  After a full year you then complete "shift training" that only lasts about 6 weeks.  The training you are given is lacking and does not have much structor other than the power house portion.   

During my employment Domtar asked for their employees to complete surveys that covered their opinions regarding management, their duties, workplace culture, safety etc.   After completing the surveys the results were shared however nothing was every done to try and improve any of the problems.

Management spend more time trying to keep their job than actually doing their jobs.  The management employees are expected to work a lot more than the required 40 hours a week and receive minimum compensation for doing so.

As a maintenance employee the hardest part of my employment there was the constant contracting out of maintenance work.   The work are things that their employees are capable of completing however would required additional planning and organizing on the supervisor/planner side.  The easiest way to get around that is to contract out the work and assign (in my case) the 20 electricians on site to lightbulb duty.

Working for Domtar was not all bad.  The wage is decent and the benefits aren't terrible.  The best part about my experience was working with the maintenance employees on the floor (welders, pipe fitters, millwrights, operators).  Despite the harsh environment, most had good attitudes towards each other and across the other trades.   Everyone was willing to help each other even if it wasn't "their job".  

Domtar has a lot of potential, however I don't feel like their will reach it any time soon.  Their goal is to teach their employees the bare minimum, provide the bare minimum, and in turn will end of with the bare minimum.  The only thing I will miss are the people I worked with, but other than that resigning was the best move for me.

Your co workers and some of the managers are amazing people. I miss them. But the culture and style of management is so incredibly bad that I could not continue working there. Took a lower paying job with worse benefits if that helps paint a picture for you. I was a tradesman on shift maintenance, my experience might not be the same for all. Production trumps safety, no matter what they say. Decades of very small town nepotism and cronyism have resulted in some of the most shockingly incompetent frontline supervisors, superintendents, managers imaginable. And the work culture at their level is even worse. Competent managers and supervisors with a backbone (believe me, the kinds of bosses you want at a dangerous industrial facility) get overworked or backstabbed until they go on sick leave or quit. This facility is a very large operating steam plant/power plant/ recovery boiler/ chemical plant etc. these processes are inherently dangerous! Their safety program would have you believe that if you do your checklist/circle check/ risk assessment properly and wear your PPE you will be fine….. signing that checklist is just a “transfer of liability” that they WILL use against you if you get hurt on the job. These folks honestly tried to patch a hole in a cooking liquor tank with a piece of plywood to give you an idea. Anyways, your co-workers are all amazing people, even a few of the bosses. Pay is great for the region/cost of living. In the end for me it just wasn’t worth it. Good luck! 

Oh boy, what is there to say.

Well first off all of the sawmill workers are generally great people, most just trying to get through a day but willing to lend a hand if you're new and need help. Your first level supervisors are also responsive, and good people.

However, the mill is old and on its last legs. The mill's upper management is one of the most toxic group of "professionals" I have ever experienced, and the culture they create is one that demeans workers and nurtures a sexist environment. 

Management's primary focus is on uptime production, and because of this they blindly follow policies that push operation to its limits, and then they wonder why their production stalls out and requires mechanical downtime. Of course this is blamed on the workers, not management for their lack of forethought or planning, for the long-term operation of this mill.

If you like to be micromanaged, treated like a literal dog by someone with no appreciation for your education or skills, harassed, further demeaned (especially if you're female), and generally made to feel like management is looking for an excuse to let you go, then this place is probably everything you want.

Most people that accept jobs here are just counting the days till they can jump on the next opportunity they get, however if you list them on your resume you're almost guaranteed to never get a call-back so its up to you if you want to invest time in something with little chance for outside advancement.

There's a reason that they're always hiring, and it doesn't bode well for new employees.

Depending on who you interact with will tell you different sides of the business. My experience is from the salary or management team. The company and sawmill is not a stagnant place, it is place that is changing and can only benefit from change. The change always came from a good place to improve safety, efficiency and production. However, when ordered it often felt that the changes were needed yesterday and things were missed due the . Understandably it is a sawmill and time does not wait for anybody in the highs and lows in the lumber market. With any company that has a vision, you will have the responsibility of supporting it and you will gain skills that will help you when you work for different companies or start your own.  I felt the pay was fair. The management team in the sawmill wants you to succeed. Be honest with what you want and be honest if you want to move on to different things and you will have the same support. The union crew can be supportive but usually have gone through so many changes, good and bad that there is always caution when new procedures come into play, they can become isolated very quickly so it is important to include them with whatever you do.  Great group of guys. Very solid career for anyone wanting to get into forest products and live in Thunder Bay.

Pros
Pay, pension, benefits, vacation. 
Advancement opportunities.
Affordable living.
Learning opportunities.

Cons
Schedule. Shift workers are bounced from crew to crew. 
Mill reliability. The mill is old and break downs do happen.


Having been on both sides; union and staff I can say first hand that there are great people on both sides. If you always put safety first, are eager to learn, and strive for continuous improvement you’ll fit right in and do great here. If you’re lazy and difficult to work with you won’t last long (as you can see from some other reviews). The mill has struggled with reliability the past few years, but things are looking up. The equipment is being fixed and the mill is in the process of making major upgrades to improve both reliability and production. There are always lots of opportunities to learn and to advance. The only advice I have for the mill is to keep shift workers on steady schedules. It may cost more but keeping people on steady schedules will keep them happy and certainly help keep people. There has been some turn over of people over the past few years and I believe that is a major part of why. With several new people in leadership positions there have been some very positive changes that are being made. I highly recommend you consider working at Domtar Espanola. The future of the mill is looking bright. 


the day starts with shop talk and safety then we get our work orders to do our jobs routine inspections of the plant to make sure everything run smooth listen for different noises of pumps or motors and conveyors or up to specks anything wrong make a report and take appropriate action to get the job done in a safe and timely manner being that is is a paper industry we deal with lots of departments so you have to have a great knowledge of everything also we have a wood yard and more conveyors that carry the wood to big debarking drums that remove the bark witch is sent to a big press that releases the water then sent to the blowers that sends it to the steam plant witch is then burnt the clean logs or then sent to the TMP witch it converts it into wood chips then sent to big refiners that turns it to pulp witch is sent  to the paper mill and turns into paper the hardest part of the job is dealing with major break down getting all the parts you need in a hurry management always asking you how long or when your going to be done and the most enjoyable part is when you finish early and everyone is happy then its shower time and you get to go home with a smile cause you know you did a good job in a safe way and no one got hurt.

Management doesn’t know which direction they’re going. The company didn’t pay the entire mill properly for a couple months and employees had to fight to try and get their money back. The company is trying to break the union. We have been without a contract for almost 2 years and now the company is bargaining in bad faith by threatening to curtail machines indefinitely to try and force us to take a bad contract. I highly recommend you do not try to move to Vancouver island and take a job here because it is very unaffordable and no housing available. The safety culture here is awful unless you take matters into your own hands and refuse unsafe work. If you bring up a safety issue it will most likely get ignored or bypassed. If you refuse unsafe work management will just look for another person to do the job, usually to try and save a dollar. People in operations have a very hard time getting their vacation time. Every department is seriously under staffed. Most of the people you work with here are great people. Vancouver island is a great place to live if you can afford it. 

Great place to work if you're looking for a solid work life balance. Workplace culture lacks motivation or any type of innovation. "Its the way its always been done and we'll keep doing it this way" is the type of mentality here. The company has a tough time taking time to do things correctly and would rather, run until failure rather than taking the downtime and fixing things correctly, which can be frustrating. Management is great! Very approachable and willing to work with you on schedule changes, but the crews are seemingly short staffed which means lots of available overtime, sometimes unwanted. Their training for onboarding new employees needs to be revamped as it lacks structure as well important information that is required for being a successful and independent employee. Wage is average and  benefits are good, but due to the high cost of living in the area, it may not be ideal if you're not a local who is already set up here. 

Work environment is very hot, humid and dirty. Lots of hazards to watch out for from leaking steam and chemical lines, to exposed hot piping, and aging structural. 

I worked a 4x4 shift. ( 2days, 2 nights) 12hour shifts 3.5 days off. the hours worked well as they were implemented threw employee input.On going safety training was extensive in an effort to always keep the work place somewhere safe to be. Moral was high till the end which I feel contributed to a low injure to man hours rate. Training was extensive and on going in WHMIS, Fall Arrest, Confined Space Entry, Hatch Watch Safety, LPG Filling (by volume), OSHA, Forklift and Pre-inspection along with monthly tour rotation and weekly/daily departmental safety meetings.Your co-workers were like a 2nd family and tended to work very well together. he hardest part of the job that I did was standing in one spot doing repetitive work for long periods of time (feet tend to get sore on vibrating steel decking). The best part was time usual went by quickly as there was always things to be tended to keeping one very busy. the shift work also aloud for lots of family time at home when not working overtime.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Opérateur 31 salaries reported	$31.69 per hour
Opérateur de machine 24 salaries reported	$32.10 per hour
Mécanicien de machines fixes 11 salaries reported	$41.06 per hour
Électrotechnicien 10 salaries reported	$38.91 per hour
Chef de projet 4 salaries reported	$187,500 per year

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