ESPANOLA—A Unifor National Service representative is hoping to hammer out a labour adjustment agreement with Domtar representatives this week. While Jerry Logan says the indefinite shuttering of the mill effective later this fall was devastating to employees, management, administration and the community, he is optimistic that a new buyer will purchase the business in the next year or so.
“I’m optimistic a buyer will come along and start the pulp and paper mill again,” stated Jerry Logan, Unifor National Service representative late last week.
“Obviously, the news was heartbreaking for the (350) Unifor employees, other employees as well as administration. It is devastating to lose that many jobs in a community of about 5,000 people,” said Mr. Logan. “And these are some of the best paying jobs in the region. It is certainly a hard pill to swallow, especially since we had just gone through contract negotiations a few months ago.”
Mr. Logan said, “I thought when I was told that there would be an operations update that the company would be shutting down to put money into the business. My heart sunk when I found out what the actual announcement was.”
“There are at least 350 Unifor workers at Domtar (Espanola) along with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) that are under a separate agreement. And the product workers,” explained Mr. Logan. “There are three unions involved, and this doesn’t include management positions, about 100 I would imagine that will be affected.”
Mr. Logan said Unifor employees run from about three years’ experience to those with over 30 years’ experience with some of the latter looking at retirement soon and some who don’t qualify for a pension. “We are going to be meeting with the employer and the union members to get an agreement in place to close those gaps.” He held an initial meeting with the employer on Friday, September 8, and a meeting with the Unifor employees on September 12.
“I’m optimistic a buyer will come along and start the operations again,” said Mr. Logan. “We are hearing a minimum of a year that the operations will be idle. They (Domtar) have a power dam and sell electricity to the province so they will need some (employee) presence during that time.”
“What we need to do is make sure the employees are taken care of properly and get the idle mode being maintained until a new buyer comes along,” said Mr. Logan. “But it is tough for workers and those that are and are not going to be working through the company idle period.”
Mr. Logan said, “the idle period begins November 30 and we need to keep people in so it continues. The concern is who is for those not working during the idle period. It is going to be tough to have employees stick around that long when they can go out and try and get another job.” He, along with the employees and the employer will be meeting this week (Tuesday). “We need to bargain a good adjustment agreement for the employees.”
