Rhino Reforestation

[L.Root]

I worked for Rhino during the 2020 season on their Quesnel and Nazko contracts. We started May 11th, late start due to covid, and finished July 1st which is when the camp moved to Nordegg AB for another month or so. Our contract started in Quesnel which was all burn blocks, easy fast land. This was similar to what I saw in Nazko but there was significantly more blow down, more intense geographical features, and tougher block access. It was hard to not be able to find a spot to place a tree to hit contract density as the land was all burned but the added obstacles made it slower going then Quesnel. This is not to say that there were no blocks that were not tough to get through such as rock ridden blocks or wind fall blocks that had wind fall tower serval feet over your head. However, we were compensated for these tougher blocks with price bumps which were not hard to ask for. Usually each block would vary end to end on how each piece was priced. Quality that the mill client expected on several occasions changed witch forced some crews to have to replant blocks due to the fact they were told now to never plant according to a different spec. If planters planted over $300 they were given an extra cent on their trees. Camp costs were $25. Some drives were long and some were short, I'd say on average drives throughout the season were 30 minutes long. In at the trucks at 7ish back usually by 6ish. Our lunches were made for us because of Covid restrictions. The food was alright during the first couple weeks of the season but then got exponentially amazing after we acquired a new cook. On days off because we were not allowed to go to town due to Covid we had some town runners who would do our laundry and get us essentials like bug spray and smokes. The shift schedules were 3 and 1s. The crew bosses that had been working at this camp for several seasons had 8+ seasons of silviculture work experience. Three 12+ packs I believe and four 6 packs. A few French speaking crews. No one crew was favored and so if there was a real shit few blocks each crew got a taste of it, same as real creamy blocks. I had the opportunity to work with several different foreman and each time I never waited for trees, was never disappointed with the tree prices, and was able to hit my target production. The top planters were usually making over $550. Prices on average were 0.185. There were plenty of vets who had 5+ years experience who had either returned or were new to the company. Ide say maybe 1/3rd of planters were rookies. This company is just the one camp which was over seen by the owner who at the time was training a new supervisor. The vehicles that were used were company owned and at times had issues. They were handled quickly and we had a new crew vehicle to use weather it was a company owned one or a rental usually within a 24 hour period. I was told they had other work available for brushing which started after Nordegg planting which went up until October as well as a fall plant sometime in September also in Nazko. Apparently, they also do some cone picking in the winter as well.

[poisson]

Nice to hear a fresh review of a company that generally have a bad reputation. Management people are quick to dismiss any bad reviews on KKRF so an unbiaised source is always welcome. That bonus system reeks though and I'm not even sure it's legal.

[jdtesluk]

The bonus system described is legal, as it is a true production incentive given on top of promised pay. A bonus system becomes illegal if it is used to withhold pay to get people to stay longer or something, or to defray a cost of business such as truck damage or tree quality. In the old days (that sounds so curmudgeonly) you received an extra penny but only if you stayed to the end, and often the worst land seemed to come at the end.

In this case, it is no different than graduated incentives awarded to salespeople, and so long as it is available to any worker that achieves the threshold, it is totally within the law.

[chez9]

Sadly Rhino and Pierre its owner are not above using bonus systems as a way to withhold pay. Straight from the owners mouth "Minimum wage top ups have ruined this industry"

[jdtesluk]

Just curious if you care to clarify. The bonus system described in the review is legitimate based on description provided, and is not related to top-up for minimal wage, which is a separate issue.

A company owner may not like the regulations that require top-up, but it is a very different issue if they actually fail to comply with the regulations. If any planting worker is ever deprived of top-up, they should absolutely contact employment standards, who rule overwhelmingly in favor of workers who file such grievances.
I have no horse in this race, but think that it is important that actual wrong-doing be identified clearly, and for workers to receive accurate information.

[chez9]

Both

[L.Root]

Jdtesluk, no these were not minimum wage top ups. If you planted $299.99 (before camp costs and tax) you did not get any extra cent on your trees. That extra cent would end up covering your camp costs.
Chez9, I didn't see management use the insensitive to leverage anything. We didn't have hour long pep talks. We did have some meetings in mornings that maybe lasted max 20 mintues about performance of camp production, quality, camp moves, etc.
I never heard of anyone's pay being withheld including of those that left the company to another contract, were injured, or fired. We were payed each week rather then by weekly. Our pay stubs were on occasion late but never missing. All of my recorded shift earnings matched, sometimes off by a like $3.