TransCanada and Enmax confirm layoffs in a rough week for Calgary workers

Calgary Herald ^ | November 18, 2015 | DAN HEALING

[thackney]

Both TransCanada Corp. and city-owned Enmax Corp. confirmed they laid off staff Wednesday as a provincewide economic slowdown blamed on low commodity prices hits pipeline and utility sectors.

"This is a difficult time for all of our employees and contractors, as it is for those at many companies right now. These decisions aren't made lightly," said TransCanada spokesman Mark Cooper in an e-mail.

He said the company wouldn't provide details on the reductions until they are complete, refusing comment on anonymous social media postings that claim the layoffs are being rolled out over three days, through Friday, and involve hundreds of employees.

The company's Keystone XL pipeline was rejected last month by U.S. President Barack Obama but Cooper said the cuts are "not related to any specific project or regulatory decision."

Enmax spokeswoman Doris Kaufmann Woodcock said the electricity generator cut 60 positions on Wednesday.

"Like many businesses, Enmax is impacted by the changes taking place in our industry and in the Alberta economy. We have been actively adjusting our organization and, as a result, reduced our senior management (vice-presidents) by 16 per cent throughout 2015," she wrote in an e-mail.

"Today, we made the difficult decision to further reduce approximately three per cent of our management and professional workforce."

She said no front-line customer service or field staff jobs have been cut.

On Monday, Calgary's largest pipeline company, Enbridge Inc., laid off 500 staff and chopped 100 empty positions from its 11,000-employee operations. About half of the layoffs involved people from Alberta.

TransCanada announced in June it had laid off 185 people -- most stationed in Calgary -- from its major projects department. It announced it would cut 20 per cent of its senior leaders in September and a further 30 director positions in October.

Statistics Canada reported recently that Alberta lost 11,600 full-time jobs in October, including 3,600 in Calgary, as the unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent from 6.5 in September.

Compared with October 2014, the number of full-time jobs in Alberta fell 22,100.

Alberta Labour reports more than 100 group layoff notices involving 15,800 workers in the province have been issued this year. Approximately 76 per cent are related to the downturn in the energy sector, it said.

[thackney]

ENMAX Corporation (ENMAX) is a utility company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. ENMAX, through its subsidiaries and predecessors, have a history of delivering electricity to Calgarians for over 100 years and, with deregulation, now provides retail services to Albertans throughout the province.

[thackney]

Canada

[butlerweave]

It’s going to get even worst when Trudeau does Obama bidding and bans Oil Tankers from the West Coast of Canada

[Buckeye McFrog]

How’s that Trudeau thing working out for yinz?

[Squawk 8888]

Canada Ping!

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.