Premier offers Tembec workers settlement hope on a grim day

PINE FALLS -- After 99 days with­out a paycheque, and only 17 days before Christmas, locked-out Tem­bec workers got a glimmer of hope on Tuesday.

Premier Greg Selinger visited this Manitoba mill town, where manage­ment and workers have been stuck at loggerheads, and said a development today may show movement between the locked-out workers and the mill.

"There's a separate process (today) where they were going to be making an offer to the workers on how to end the lockout. Right now, there is a proposal on the table from the company which hasn't been clarified yet to end the lockout," Selinger told news media.

His comments capped a day of emo­tional upheaval that began when Tem­bec announced it's selling the Pine Falls plant and will consider closing the mill if it can't find a buyer.

It would seem too much to hope for a Christmas miracle in which today's an­nouncement ends the lockout and lets the mill and town return to business as usual.

Tembec spokesman John Valley said Tuesday that even though the Quebec­based firm still wants to settle the labour dispute, the mill will not reopen even with a settlement. Valley said if a deal is reached, the employees would be laid off.

"We've been quite clear: It's in the best interests of Tembec and the em­ployees that we exit the site," said Val­ley, Tembec's executive vice-president of business development and corporate affairs. "It's our hope that we can find a new owner for the site."

Tembec locked out its 270 unionized workers Sept. 1 after the union rejected a proposal to cut wages and benefits by 35 per cent.

Tembec bought the mill in 1998 from a group of plant managers and em­ployees, but demand for newsprint has collapsed in the past year, resulting in falling prices and steep losses for the companies that operate the mills.

North American demand for news­print has dropped almost 50 per cent since 2003. Tembec posted a loss of $38 million in the second quarter this year. News of the plant sale wasn't a sur­prise for the union official handling ne­gotiations with Tembec. Wayne Skryp­nyk said he believed Tembec never wanted to continue operating the mill and precipitated the lockout as a justifi­cation to shut it down. "They come to the union and say, 'We need 40 per cent in concessions. We're not prepared to talk about it; we just want it. Give it to us, or else,' and they lock us out," said Skrypnyk, a rep­resentative of United Steelworkers of America.

"I don't believe Tembec has any in­terest in running the mill. I think that was their intention all along, to bring this mill down."

Skrypnyk said it would be easier for Tembec to sell the mill if prospective buyers don't have to cross a picket line to inspect the facility and the workers could collect employment insurance until a new owner reopened the mill.

Valley said Tembec will continue to market the mill. He said the company needs to be in negotiations with one or more buyers in early January and reach a deal by the end of March.

Without a deal, he said Tembec will consider other options, including permanently closing the mill.

The premier and Labour Minister Jennifer Howard travelled late Tues­day to Pine Falls to meet with commun­ity leaders, including the deputy may­or of Powerview-Pine Falls and union officials.

The government will provide $1 mil­lion to the Pine Falls community to deal with the looming economic changes, money that could be used to study if it is feasible for workers and/or the com­munity to buy the plant. Or it could be used to look into "additional economic development opportunities in that area."

Selinger also announced the province will put together a committee to help the community adjust to the anticipat­ed sale of the mill.

"The government is prepared to put a senior official on that committee to work with people on community ad­justment strategies, including feasibil­ity studies in terms of purchasing the plant and other economic development activities and programs we can put in place out here to move things forward," Selinger said.

Tembec's announced sale dominated question period in the legislature Tues­day, with the Opposition accusing the government of ignoring the plight of the 270 union workers until now.

Both Conservative Leader Hugh Mc­Fadyen and Liberal Leader Jon Ger­rard have visited the community in re­cent months, but the premier made his first visit Tuesday afternoon.

"We're disappointed that it's taken 99 days from the time of the lockout for the premier to show enough interest to visit the community," McFadyen said.

Selinger said the province had al­ready offered considerable support for Tembec, including tax credits for plant modernization, a $2.7-million sub­sidy for not cutting in provincial parks and lowering stumpage fees as market prices fell.

"Since the lockout began, we've pro­vided a conciliator and a mediator... and provided the resources for the two sides to come to an agreement," but un­fortunately they could not, the premier said.

-- With files from Larry Kusch

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca

THE REACTION: BITTERNESS, DELIGHT, PESSIMISM ABOUT THE FUTURE

Dave Torres, an employee of the mill for more than 30 years, who was three months away from retirement when the lockout began.

"They have a slogan: 'A community of people building the future together.' Well, it's not like that at all. It's a big corporation looking to make millions of dollars and taking all the profits and hightailing it out of here."

Eric Reder, campaign director for the Wilderness Committee environmental group.

"One of the largest sources of pollution in Manitoba over the last 80 years will be shut down, preventing 4.68 million tonnes of pollutants from being emitted each year. Pollution Watch ranks the coal-powered operation as the third-worst polluter in Manitoba. This is wonderful news for our province."

Joanne Raymond, co-owner with her husband of The Paper Town Motor Inn, home to the Pine Falls bar Nightcrawlers.

"The community is not as abuzz as it used to be. You've got people that are surviving on minimal wages walking the line, which is degrading... They've never asked anybody for anything. We all pay our taxes and work hard and now these people are working for peanuts, trying to support families. It's a lot of pride to swallow."

Spuddy Dean began work in the mill 35 years ago.

"I picked up a part-time job in Ducette for a little bit of extra money. My girlfriend works. We're surviving now, but I don't know if we can survive for another three months. Applications are out, but because of the lockout, we're not entitled to anything -- no training, no schooling. Nobody wants to hire you because if work starts, you're going to quit on them."

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 9, 2009 A3