Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada 24 August 2015 -- Over 1,000 contracted workers - the majority from over 30 companies that operate in New Brunswick - are on the job at Irving Pulp & Paper and Irving Tissue near Reversing Falls in West Saint John this week. These workers are in addition to the team of 350 people employed at the Irving Pulp & Paper mill, and 110 people employed at Irving Tissue. The mill was taken off line on Saturday, August 22nd and will remain down until Sunday August 29th. During this time, over 2400 scheduled tasks will be executed involving a number of trades such as millwrights, welders, pipefitters, electricians, instrumentation specialists, boilermakers, and bricklayers.

The week-long activity is part of an 18-month shutdown cycle in which each mill is taken down for routine inspection and maintenance is conducted on many of the key mill systems not normally taken out of service under everyday operation. In addition to regular inspections and maintenance on key pieces of equipment, final project tie-ins associated with phase 2 of the $450 million modernization at the Irving Pulp and Paper mill will also be completed.

"Our shutdown is critical to the safe and efficient operation of our combined pulp and tissue facilities," said Mark Mosher, Vice President of Pulp and Paper Operations for J.D. Irving, Limited. "This scheduled maintenance is also important to the many other communities in New Brunswick through the jobs and spin-offs this work brings. These contractors are part of a supply chain that includes 1700 businesses throughout NB that provide goods and services to our forest products operations."

"Many months of planning have gone into this shutdown and now it is time to put those plans into action," said Mill Manager, Corey Gallant. "We appreciate the skill and experience of these local contractors and trades people who are crucial to sustaining the pulp in Saint John."

In the meantime, the current phase of the modernization project has created about 450 direct and indirect construction jobs on-site. To date, JDI has awarded over $64 million in contracts to 124 New Brunswick companies since the modernization began last spring.

Irving Pulp and Paper and the west side tissue mill are central part of JDI's forest products value chain in New Brunswick which generates over $400 million in annual purchases, supporting over 1700 suppliers across 250 communities in the province that we are proud to call home.

Our made in New Brunswick pulp products are used to make Royale, Majesta, and Scotties (US) tissue and are also shipped to 20 countries around the globe, sustaining a vital road, rail, and sea transportation hub in Saint John.