WE Soda Workers Face 350 Layoffs as Trona Mining Shifts to Solution Recovery

Residents in Cheyenne and surrounding communities woke to the sound of chanting and a burning barrel Monday morning as more than 100 people gathered at the entrance of the WE Soda Westvaco operation. The demonstration supported 350 employees who have been told their positions will be eliminated over the next two years. Protesters lit the barrel for warmth and held signs declaring themselves union strong, standing in solidarity with the workers facing displacement.

The company announced Wednesday that it is converting its Westvaco underground mining operation to in-situ solution recovery. This method involves drilling wells to extract soda ash over a two-year period rather than using underground mining. The shift is necessary because global market forces are driven by a flood of cheaper soda ash from China. The company also plans to pull back from the global market to focus on customers in North America. Soda ash is used in glass manufacturing, cleaning products, and water treatment.

Layoffs are expected to begin in January and continue over a two-year period. The company states this move will reduce redundancy and strengthen the existing hourly workforce. In April of last year, WE Soda cut 70 jobs, including 20 salaried management positions and 50 contract positions. The current round of cuts will reduce the workforce further to 300. The union estimates that the total number of employees in Wyoming has dropped from about 1,200 to 700.

Frank Hummings, president of United Steelworkers Local 1436, told WyoFile that lives are at risk here. He noted that if the company goes to solution mining, it will be done in slow waves through attrition so that it does not completely demolish the community. Hummings said he hopes state and congressional leaders understand that this is a gut punch, not just a paycheck, because people’s futures are shattered. He described the situation as a community that is hurting.

Stan Flake, a former Wyoming legislator and Green River mayor-elect, joined the protest. He said he wanted to show people going in on the buses that they were there to help out. Flake called the event a sucker punch because it came out of nowhere. He noted that families in Green River are already worried about how they are going to make house payments and rent. He said that beyond family dependence on the industry, there could be a rise in empty homes, hampering local revenue from property taxes. Flake said the Wyoming Legislature has often scrambled to find some authority to exert over railroads, leaving little available to address shipping rates that eat away at profit margins for the soda ash industry.

Flake stated that it appears trona and soda ash workers are totally reliant on Wyoming’s congressional delegation. He asked what they are going to do to help us out, noting that oil and gas always get some big tax cuts and that the coal industry always props up the coal industry. He said it is time to help prop up the soda industry and the trona miners. Hummings added that he was asked to lead his church’s congregation in prayer on Sunday. He broke down thinking about what his neighbors and fellow workers are suffering through. He said he is terrified that they turn to books, drugs, alcohol, whatever it is, because that breaks his heart.

Hummings said he hopes to find a way to get this done because he refuses to accept that this is the only way. He described it as the cheapest way, the cheapest on a spreadsheet, but not the cheapest with layoffs on the ground.