Date: 2007
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Sam Cholak was a long-distance trucker before joining Celanese in 1990, remaining there till the end of 2007. His wife already worked there when he joined. After 1 1/2 years in the loading department, he worked in the cellulose acetate area. The company trained Cholak in emergency medical response and other areas that would qualify him for firefighter work. He praises the union, which was initially the Energy and Chemical Workers Union, and later Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (today part of Unifor) for pressuring the company to do hazard assessments. Cholak viewed his teammates as family and regarded Celanese as a good workplace before Hoechst AG bought and then shut down the plant. Hoechst took a billion dollars from the plant budget and saddled it with $400 million in debt. The plant closing resulted in many divorces. Cholak questions foreign ownership, arguing that Canada does too little to conserve its resources for the benefit of its own citizens. He credits Celanese for attempting to find new jobs for dismissed workers but mentions that many suffered financial ruin after losing their jobs, and divorces were a common consequence.
Sam Cholak was interviewed together with fellow Celanese long-time employee Tom Enright.
Keywords: Celanese closure; Cellulose acetate; Communications, Energy and Paperworkers ; Divorces after plant shutdown; Emergency medical response training; Energy and Chemical Workers Union; Hoechst AG; Loading department; Long-distance trucker.
Transcript: Download PDF
See also: Celanese Edmonton: Workers’ Stories; Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Unifor