Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, is a town that rides the fortunes of its mill. And fortunes are currently down.
In late August of 2011, Ohio-based owners Newpage announced that the mill would be closing indefinitely. Throughout September, about 1,000 people employed by the mill in some capacity were laid off. In a town of about 3,000 residents, this was a staggering blow to the local economy.
Newpage, filing for bankruptcy, owed money to creditors all over the map. Unfortunately for the members of the Communication, Energy, and Paperworkers Local 972, they found themselves at the back of the line when it came time to divvy up Newpage's assets.
Recording Secretary for Local 972, Steven MacDougall, explains:
“We got caught up, because Newpage owed a lot of money to different groups. And there were secured creditors and unsecured creditors, and unfortunately our group was with the unsecured creditors. Which meant that secured creditors would have to be paid first, whatever money was owed to them.”
At stake were union members' pensions and benefits, says MacDougall, and while a new purchaser for the mill has been found, members of the CEP 972 are prepared for cuts of at least thirty percent to their pensions. While the union sued Newpage for $168 million in early February 2012, there is no guarantee that this money will be available after the secured creditors have been paid off.
The new purchaser, Stern Partners from Vancouver, is currently negotiating the details of the deal, and so far Local 972 isn't at the table.
“We haven't discussed any labour agreement, or issues,” says MacDougall. “[Stern] is heavily involved with negotiations with the power company and the provincial government, and he's told us early on that unless he could come to an agreement with those people, there would be really no reason to talk to us.”
It has been made public, however, that the workforce at the mill stands to be at least halved when it does re-open, with some estimating that it will employ not much more than 200 people.
The woodchips are down.
You can catch Steven MacDougall, Recording Secretary, and Archie MacLaghlan, 1st Vice President, from CEP Local 972, speaking about the challenges facing millworkers in Port Hawkesbury at the upcoming State of Our Unions panel discussion on February 22 from 6:30 - 9:00 at Just Us! Coffee House, 5896 Spring Garden Rd.
