Kruger, unions swap proposals as contract deadline looms

With a midnight deadline looming, Corner Brook Pulp and Paper and its unionized workers worked through Friday to hammer out language that may keep the troubled newsprint mill alive.

Officials with Montreal-based Kruger Inc. — which last week issued a union ultimatum to reach a new contract within a week — had a series of meetings at the Glynmill Inn with union negotiators. A concilliator has been involved. 

"They go into a room, the union representatives follow, there's a brief discussion and then Kruger staffers leave," CBC News reporter Jeremy Eaton said.

"From what I've seen, it's been a lot of back and forth all day."

A media blackout is in effect on the talks, and it is not known whether the workers — most of which are represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union — are close or far to meeting company demands.

Kruger said last month it was studying whether it can afford to keep the mill, which the Newfoundland and Labrador government said has been losing money year over year, in the wake of a union rejection of a pension restructuring plan.

It's widely expected that Kruger is seeking concessions to keep the mill open.

But Rick Arsenault, a regional rep with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, told CBC News that his members are seeking a pay package that is competitive to what skilled trades workers can earn elsewhere.

"We came a long ways from where we were," Arsenault said.

"[But] this group needs to be taken care of … If they want to compete with the tradesmen of North America, we gave them a fair offer to do that."

Former premier Brian Peckford, who was in power when the mill appeared to be facing closure in 1984 when former owner Bowater wanted out, told CBC News that a deal then also came down to the wire.

Peckford said the long-term future of the mill needs to be considered.

"I think, perhaps, the first thing one must do is look at it from the point of view of over the next 10 years, using the best expertise that you can, can you construct a model where this mill can continue to make money?" Peckford said.

Peckford said he is hopeful a deal can be reached this week, just as one was in 1984.

The stakes in the talks are high. Newfoundland and Labrador Natural Resources Minister Jerome Kennedy said just last week was "on the verge of bankruptcy."

A key element of the talks is union approval of a previously rejected company demand to restructure pension plans.

Kruger has wanted 10 years instead of five to repay tens of millions of dollars owed to employee pension funds. CEP members narrowly rejected the request in May, even though it was approved by pensioners and non-unionized workers.

After meeting with Premier Kathy Dunderdale last week, chairman Joseph Kruger said he was "discouraged and very, very concerned" about the fate of the mill.

Negotiations between the company and the CEP were launched a week ago at the Glynmill Inn, a Corner Brook hotel that had originally been built to house workers at the newsprint mill that has been a staple of Corner Brook's economy since the 1920s.

Speaking to CBC in early June, CEP official Bruce Randell acknowledged that Kruger will be looking for cost-cutting concessions.

"I guess there's a fine line where workers' rights have to be taken care of, and Mr. Kruger has to make money, and when we sit down to negotiations, I guess we'll try to get to that line," he said June 5.