By Amy Woolvett
THE COAST GUARD
Despite winning a contract to supply up to $531,000 worth of furniture to schools, the Ven Rez plant in Shelburne will be temporarily laying off 25 of its workers.
The layoff will begin on Dec. 1 and is expected to last until Jan. 3.
The company has been making school, library and institutional furniture for over 60 years and is owned by the Shaw Group.
“We expect and hope it will only be for one month,” said Michael Kontak, a spokesperson for the Shaw Group.
He said that the layoffs were mainly because the order book was low.
“There are less schools being built in the province and that means fewer orders,” he said.
The newest contract won by Ven Rez doesn’t do much to fill orders at the moment.
“It is a contract where we are on standby,” explained Kontak. “If they need anything then we will build it but we don’t know when or if they will need us.”
This was the first time in recent history that Ven Rez has laid off a group of its permanent employees.
