Mill talks resume this week

While members of Locals 92 and 306 of the Communications, Energy and Papermakers Union of Canada ratified a new five-year deal with Abitibi-Consolidated back in July, some workers at the mill here still are working without one.
Len Robinson, Human Resources manager and negotiator for the local mill, said Monday that the company and two unions—the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1744 and International Association of Machinists Lodge 771—were slated to sit down Tuesday and resume talks.
Company and union reps, including IAM Lodge 771 president Herman Pruys and IBEW Local 1744 president Dwayne Sletmoen, are scheduled to meet until Friday, and then sit down again next Tuesday through Friday.
Robinson noted both unions have been without contract since May 1, and that the first set of talks was held at the beginning of September.
Abitibi-Consolidated had opted to settle with the CEP first because it represented the most members nationwide and the resultant deal set a pattern for bargaining at other paper mills in Canada.
Sletmoen said he wasn’t at liberty to comment on any issues at stake in the negotiations since all parties have agreed to a media blackout.
But he noted that personally, he’d like the people of Fort Frances to realize that almost half of the employees at the mill here currently do not have a contract.
Some 145 mill workers belong to IAM Lodge 771 while 45 belong to the IBEW Local 1744, confirmed Robinson.
Sletmoen, however, did say he was confident a new agreement could be worked out before the end of the year, and that all parties involved understood “it’s a give-and-take process.”
He stressed there’s been no strike vote nor any other labour action at this point as negotiations still are in early stages.
Pruys declined to comment on the talks prior to any agreement, as per the media blackout.
Robinson only would say the mill is seeking a five-year contact with both the unions.
As previously reported, some 4,500 CEP ratified a new five-year contract with Abitibi-Consolidated back on July 16.
That new deal called for wage increases totalling 11 percent, improved vacations, and major improvements in health benefits and pensions, including provision for retirement at age 57 with full pension over the term of the agreement.
The previous contract had expired April 30. It was reached in 1998 after a five-month strike.