Tembec Locks Out Nearly 300 Workers

Members of two unions at the newsprint operation in Pine Falls affected.

Instead of working with their unions to resolve complex issues, Tembec Pine Falls set an ultimatum that workers must accept wage and contract concessions, estimated by the unions to be well over 35 per cent, by August 31 - or the workers would be locked out. The company made good on that threat on September 1. There are about 260 United Steelworkers members and close to 20 Canadian Office and Professional Employees (COPE) affected by the lock out.

"Tembec is trying to gut our collective agreement and, at the same time, does not want to share how many dollars savings, per tonne, its concessionary demands would amount to," says USW Western Canada Director Stephen Hunt. "This company should also be willing let its employees know what it is willing to do in production and market innovation and in cooperation with the Manitoba and federal governments, to improve sales and reduce overall costs for Pine Falls."

The two unions involved say the company is refusing to share information on its cost reduction demands or share any records of its efforts with other stakeholders to reduce production costs at the company's Manitoba newspaper operations.

COPE Local 216 staff rep Don Talarico says it's "extremely frustrating when employer representatives refuse to provide adequate information that would allow us to make informed decisions."

Wayne Skrypnyk, area supervisor with the United Steelworkers union, says the request for wage cuts is hypocritical, considering five top Tembec officers received huge bonuses last year.

"In 2008, these individuals enjoyed increases in their compensation packages as much as 65 per cent. They've got some nerve coming to us saying we need 35 per cent in concessions from the unionized workforce in this plant."

Skrypnyk said while the union recognizes the company does have economic issues because the demand for newsprint has gone down, all employees of the company should share the rollback, not just unionized workers.

The union's are investigating whether or not a claim can be made with the provincial labour board regarding bad faith bargaining.

The mill produces newsprint by thermo-mechanical means, which has in recent months been put at a greater economic disadvantage by federal government subsidies to pulp producers aimed at offsetting the advantage U.S. mills get under the so-called "black liquor subsidy program," Unfortunately, Pine Falls and other mills that use thermo-mechanical pulping processes don't qualify.