Forestry Fraser Papers says union down to hours to try to save Edmundston pulp mill jobs

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John Pollack
Telegraph-Journal

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Time is running out for more than 200 unionized workers at Fraser Papers Inc.'s Edmundston sulphite pulp mill to save their jobs.

A meeting of union members last night appeared to have ended with no response to Fraser's impending closure of the Edmundston facility.

The company said Monday night that it needs a decision very soon on whether the union is willing to accept its terms on a new contract, which was narrowly rejected by its members last week, with 54 per cent against.

"We're talking in hours now," plant manager Robert Dufresne said Monday night.

He said that, since the union rejected its contract offer, Fraser has to look elsewhere to secure a supply of pulp to feed the Madawaska, Maine paper making operation just across the St. John River from Edmundston.

"They will have to find a solution before we have to buy pulp," he said.

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union local 29 met Monday evening and were going to "reconsider the vote of Aug. 6," president Doris Lavoie told the Telegraph-Journal last week.

Dufresne said it is the company's understanding is that the meeting ended with a willingness to return to work at the mill, but there was a dispute about whether the union could vote again on the same contract offer.

"National is saying that local chose to not do it and local said that the national don't want to let them vote on the same one," Dufresne said.

Neither Lavoie, nor national union representative Jean Clavette, a former mill worker who had been involved in the contract negotiations, could be reached for comment Monday night.

Dufresne said the company will go ahead with its plan to keep its Edmundston sulphite pulp mill closed.

The company voiced its intention last week before the union voted, saying it would need the union to accept concessions to keep the mill alive.

Dufresne put off finalizing a six to 12 month pulp contract Monday, but said he can't wait any longer.

"We gave them the 24-hour delay and it doesn't work," he said Monday night. "If we have to buy pulp (today) we will."

Dufresne said the mill could have re-opened around Aug. 30, if the union had re-voted to accept the offer. But he's not optimistic that will happen and, after he signs a pulp deal, it will be too late.

"I don't see that working really well, because we won't start back until the middle of the winter. I don't see that as an options, so they will have to come back prior to signature," he said.

The sulphite mill, where more than two-thirds of the 294 unionized Edmundston employees work, has been closed since June 6 because the company said it's cheaper to buy pulp than produce it.

Fraser Papers, which has its headquarters in Toronto, is currently under creditor protection in Ontario and has until Oct. 16 to restructure.

This means 150 unionized workers in Edmundston will be laid off immediately, to be followed by another 64 unionized job cuts by the end of the year. On Friday, 25 non-unionized staff were let go, leaving only 25 managers, some of whom may be without jobn as well. The end plan is to have only 80 unionized Fraser Papers workers in Edmundston to run the company's groundwood and co-generation facilities along with about 20 managers and another 12 part-time workers to fill in when needed.

The company's four-year contract offer involved dropping a six-per-cent wage increase that came into effect July 1 and taking a further four-per-cent pay cut in the contract first year, with the possibility of getting two-per-cent annual increases for the last three year,s depending on the mill's performance.

The company pointed out the sulphite workers haven't recevied the raise yet, because they've been at home since early June.

The union said the concessions were big and employees haven't had a raise since 2005.

Including the July 1 raises, the union said the pay cut is really 10 per cent, or $3 per hour, from the average wage of $28.50 per hour.

The offer also proposed to change from a defined benefit to a defined contribution pension plan and cut job loss compensation as of July 1, 2012. The contract would cut meal benefits and reduced vacation and holiday pay.