Tembec makes settlement offer to union

[EIbound]

Tembec Inc. has made an offer to end the three-month lockout at its paper mill in Pine Falls, Man.

The Montreal-based company has presented the United Steelworkers union, which represents about 250 locked out employees, a settlement offer.

However, a deal wouldn't result in the mill being reopened by Tembec, company officials said Thursday.

Ending the labour dispute will simply clear the way for the mill to be put up for sale, the company said.

The mill, about 130 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, has been idle since Sept. 1. It is the biggest employer in the community.

Contract talks between the union and the company began Aug. 13, but the two sides were unable to reach a deal. Although they continued talking after the lockout, negotiations definitively halted in October.

The company has been saying it needed a "significant reduction" in labour costs at the paper mill to keep it competitive as demand for newsprint has fallen.

On Tuesday, Tembec officials announced they have decided to sell the mill rather than reopen it. If a buyer isn't found, the mill could be closed for good.

The union has said it was willing to accept wage cuts, but sticking points in negotiations were pension plan changes and severance pay.

On Wednesday, officials at Sagkeeng First Nation said they were considering putting in an offer to buy the mill. Sagkeeng is about 30 kilometres north of Pine Falls.

"We're actively exploring our options, and if it's in our best interest to actively pursue making an offer, then that's something that we'll look at, definitely," said Mike Fontaine, who heads the First Nation's economic development office.

[former employee]

What's the nature of Tembec's offer to end the lockout?

[former employee]

Steelworkers' fears confirmed with Tembec's latest move

BURNABY, BC, Dec. 10 /CNW/ - In a move that confirms Steelworkers' fear that the company locked out its employees at its Pine Falls newsprint mill because it intends to close the plant anyway, Tembec has now asked its workforce to give up their severance benefits as a condition for lifting the lockout.

Steelworkers and members of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees at Pine Falls have been locked out since August; Tembec has now asked them to sign away their right to severance pay as a condition of ending the lockout - even though the company also says it plans to sell the mill.

"It simply proves that the lockout took place because Tembec wanted to blame its employees for a shutdown that it planned all along," said United Steelworkers Western Canada director Steve Hunt. "Now that Tembec admits they are closing or selling the mill, our members are owed severance pay but the company doesn't want to pay it. Instead, they want them to just give up their jobs and give up their severance."

Hunt noted that Tembec's latest demands simply get in the way of efforts by the union and the Manitoba government to resolve the dispute and ensure that a new buyer can be found; Steelworkers have supported efforts by the Sagkeeng First Nations to purchase the mill. "We're prepared to continue working with the provincial government and the band to get a fair settlement and see whether the mill can viably operate."

"This repeats Tembec's trick of not paying severance to workers in Cranbrook, BC, when it closed its planer mill there," notes Steelworkers Wood Council chair Bob Matters. "It's a move that shows how desperate Tembec has become. Only a company that's panting for cash would want to stiff its employees this way."

"This dispute will only be settled when Tembec takes its outrageous concessions off the table, negotiates honestly and treats its employees with respect," Hunt said.

For further information: Stephen Hunt, [phone], [e-mail]

www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2009/10/c2336.html

[EIbound]

Not a suprise at all.