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Sheldon Yanoshewski started to suspect something wasn’t quite right when he awoke to an early-morning text message asking him to come into work early for a meeting.

Then the union vice-president got another text message, this time from United Steelworkers Local 7656 President Barry Moore.

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“We knew something pretty serious was up ’cause he’s on holidays … At that point, right away, I knew something pretty serious was going on,” Yanowshewski said.

“Came in, straight off right into the meeting, and within 30 seconds — ‘You guys are being laid off,'” he recalled.

Yanoshewski was among the 395 unionized, hourly workers handed pink slips on Aug. 6 after Mosaic Co. announced plans to indefinitely close its Colonsay potash mine.

It was a sombre morning at the facility about 50 kilometres east of Saskatoon. Some workers opted not to complete their shifts while others, as Yanoshewski put it, “trudged through” a depressing day.