MONTREAL—Canada’s largest pulp and paper union will reopen collective agreements with AbitibiBowater Inc. in a bid to find long-term solutions to the forestry industry crisis, but remains loath to endorse any wage concessions.
The Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union said it’s willing to head to the bargaining table a year earlier than scheduled and hopes any agreement will set an industry-wide pattern.
“Whatever we work out would apply to everybody [following bargaining],” union president David Coles said in an interview yesterday following a two-day meeting of about 100 union delegates in Montreal.
The union believes there are ways to cut costs that don’t involve concessions through cuts to wages and benefits.
“There’s a lot of things that can be done besides taking money out of somebody’s pocket,” Coles said.
He pointed to early retirements, changes to old-fashioned work practices, poorly-managed mills, and antiquated systems that have caused productivity to lag at mills in Europe and South America.
He said the union won’t enter talks with a preconceived agenda.
“Everything is on the table. There is nothing that is sacred here,” Coles stressed, insisting that concessions haven’t saved jobs.
AbitibiBowater decided to close its Belgo plant in Shawinigan, Que. even after the local union agreed to such cuts, Coles noted.
“There’s just no history that getting concessions like that saves a single job or a community,” he argued. “Somebody would really have to put something forward to get us to bite but we’re going in with a blank sheet.”
AbitibiBowater said it was pleased with the union’s decision.
“We see it as a first step and we’re pleased to have this willingness to discuss confirmed and we’ll see how it goes,” said Jean-Philippe Cote.
Last week, AbitibiBowater announced plans to close mills and reopen labour agreements in an attempt to streamline production, cut costs, and boost profits.
The layoffs mostly will affect Canadian workers, with Quebec towns Shawinigan and Donnacona among the hardest hit. Mills in New Brunswick, Ontario, and British Columbia also are slated to be closed.
AbitibiBowater says more layoffs may be in store unless unions, governments, and communities help cut costs.
Meanwhile, the union also is calling on all major forestry companies to join it in convening a national forest industry summit.
The high Canadian dollar and weak U.S. demand for wood and paper has ravaged Canada’s forest industry—wiping out some 20,000 jobs.
“This is a real serious crisis and we believe that we’ve been abandoned by the [federal] government,” Coles said.
“We’ve pleaded and pleaded with them that it’s going to get worse,” he noted. “They give us the back of the hand but . . . it’s just gotten worse and there’s no end in sight.”
Coles said he believes the Harper government would be more willing to help if the oil or auto industries were similarly affected or if forestry workers weren’t scattered among Canada’s rural communities.
Meanwhile, AbitibiBowater said it was pleased by a Tuesday meeting with Quebec Natural Resources minister Claude Bechard.
“We were quite happy with the tone of the meeting and the willingness to find solutions,” Cote said, noting two additional meetings with department bureaucrats are planned before Christmas.
Despite Bechard’s threat not to renew cutting licences, the procedures governing the five-year renewal is proceeding normally, Cote said.
On the TSX, AbitibiBowater shares gained more than eight percent, or $1.96 to $26.26, in trading yesterday.
Fort Frances Times
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