Lab West woes: 'I usually spend all my nights in a taxi'
Robert Woodman worked more than 16 years at Wabush Mines, but his job ended last September, interrupting a continuum of three generations of the Woodman family working in the iron ore industry in Labrador West.
- Thursday: How does a mining town survive without a mine?
- Friday: Has Lab West hit bottom?
It's had a big impact on Woodman, his young family, and the nearly 500 other workers who lost their jobs when the mine closed last fall.
"I've been working two jobs since the end of October," Woodman told CBC News during a recent interview.
"I usually spend all my nights in a taxi, and in daytime when it snows I'm on a loader doing residential clearings. Sometimes that means I literally get out of a taxi and get onto a loader for seven or eight hours. And then get out of the loader, get four hours sleep, and then go back into the taxi."
Woodman and his wife have five children. The oldest is just 12.
"When they are home, if I'm there, I'm usually asleep, getting ready to go back to work."
Woodman's earnings have practically been cut in half.
This past Christmas, the family received assistance from the local food bank and his union, a scenario he never thought possible.
"It was a real hard thing because you have children asking for gifts and when they're that young they don't truly understand that you don't have a job that you used to have," he said.
Welcome to Mini Fort Mac
It's an unusual circumstance for an area accustomed to so much prosperity.
Not long ago, the Labrador West towns of Wabush and its larger neighbour, Labrador City, were experiencing unprecedented economic activity, spurred by a surge in world prices for iron ore.
There was an expansion at the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) mine in Labrador City, and the mines in Wabush. Across the Quebec border in Bloom Lake were operating at a feverish pace.
Dealerships were pushing trucks out the doors as fast as they arrived, and the real estate market took off.
People were buying homes at prices never before imagined, and anyone in the rental business could name their price.
People started referring to the region as "Mini Fort Mac."
Buy those days are gone, and IOC is the last mine standing
A severe economic blow
Ore prices have tumbled, and mines like Wabush and Bloom Lake are now considered uneconomical.
Both have closed, resulting in the loss of about 1,000 good-paying jobs.
You know, we've lived through the 80s, we've seen hard times before, but we've never seen it this bad. We've seen huge layoffs, we've seen shutdowns of a couple months; I really didn't expect this, at this time, not for it to get this bad.- Union leader Jason Penney
That's a severe blow for Lab West, which has a combined population of just over 9,000.
"I'm really nervous for what people are going to face," said Jason Penney, president of the union local that represented workers at Wabush Mines.
Both towns in Lab West were carved out of the wilderness more than 50 years ago.
Like any one-industry town depended on often volatile commodities, the area had its ups and downs.
But there's a different feeling this time around, said Penney.
The 39-year-old union leader is a husband and father of two young children.
His union job is secure for another five months, but beyond that, there's uncertainty.
"You know, we've lived through the 80s, we've seen hard times before, but we've never seen it this bad. We've seen huge layoffs, we've seen shutdowns of a couple months; I really didn't expect this, at this time, not for it to get this bad."
The Labrador West Food Bank has experienced a 25 per cent spike in demand in recent months, and that trend is expected to continue, said chairman Bill Burt.
"Before it was I hope I have a little bit of work to actually fill a hamper. Now it's, we're almost guaranteed a hamper every day," he said.
The wolves are at the door
The once red-hot real estate market has also come to a standstill.
Imagine buying a home for $400,000 or more, thinking you had a secure job and a bright future, only to have everything fall apart.
Those are very real scenarios in Lab West these days, said longtime realtor Norm Keats.
He said homes prices have plummeted more than 25 per cent.
"Some of these people that have probably lost their jobs and ... they're going to be facing a decision in the next few months whether to either go to the banks and try and negotiate with the bank to reduce their monthly commitments, or else they're going to have to, sad to say, they're going to have to throw the keys in and throw up their hands and declare bankruptcy."
Keats said the wolves are at the door for many homeowners.
"There's houses now that's starting to be taken back by the banks … because people cannot make their mortgage commitments. There's about four properties now in the last three months that has been ... foreclosures. We haven't heard tell of that in the last couple years because everything was booming."
Keats estimates there are about 160 homes on the market, and very few deals are being made.
"It's the quietest time I've ever seen real estate here. There hasn't been any activity, or very little activity, since November of 2014."
Linda Pevie wants to leave Wabush
One of those houses on the market is on Anderson Street in Wabush. It's a four-bedroom row house owned by Linda Pevie and her husband, Wilson.
Wilson is retired from the mines, and they want to move back to the island of Newfoundland.
"I'm looking forward to leaving but it's just not working out for us," she said.
It's a stressful time for the entire Pevie family.
Linda's son recently got married and purchased a home at the peak of the market, and has lost his job at the Bloom Lake mine.
"Things are not looking good for them either," Linda said, referring to their two adult children, both of whom live in Lab West.
'Bang, everything fell down'
The local business community is also hurting, with many having expanded in recent years.
He's had to lay off employees.
"Last February, we have a lineup of 25 people wait to get a room for the night. Right now we got 25 rooms to rent to you tonight, if you want. That's what happened. To go down so fast and dramatic like this, no, I never think, and I don`t think nobody in Labrador-Wabush could imagine that," he said.
"It start last April … and in May, bang, everything fell down."
Enault said activity is slower now than it was before the most recent economic boom.
"I could tell you one thing: If one guy in Labrador, right now, tell you that business is great and he make money, please send him to me to show me how to do it … because everybody now be hurt a bad way," he said.
Wabush Mayor Colin Vardy said there have been many hardship stories.
“We had one guy call the town hall and ask if we had heard any news on Wabush Mines because he was running out of furniture to sell. He was selling his furniture to make his mortgage payments,” he said.
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