A new labour agreement between Abitibi-Consolidated and its unionized employees at 12 of its mills in central and eastern Canada took another step forward this morning as main-table negotiations began in Montreal.
“Negotiations are always tough, always a challenge,” Cec Makowski, vice-president (Ontario Region) of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, said late yesterday, just after arriving at Le Centre Montreal Sheraton Hotel—the union headquarters during the talks.
“But we’re already off on a better foot than in 1998. They didn’t even want to sit down with us and we had a five-month strike.
“That was challenging, but we were finally able to work an agreement out then,” he added. “And we’re hopeful we’ll do the same this time around.”
Makowski said it’s “a little premature” to say anything else. “But we’re going to pursue this aggressively,” he vowed.
The unions are asking for wage increases as well as improved pensions and benefits in a three-year contract.
The talks will start at the Hilton Montreal Bonaventure, but “probably [will] shift around” during the course of the negotiations, Makowski added.
He noted it would be “virtually impossible to guess” how soon a new deal may be signed, but that 25-35 days “was not unusual.”
Industry-wide labour negotiations opened in mid-March to replace contracts that expired last Friday, with Abitibi-Consolidated acting as the test company for a new deal that would be applied to other pulp mills, including Domtar and Tembec.
A new agreement would cover 4,800 Abitibi employees in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.
The last contract was reached in 1998 after a five-month strike.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
