Resolute Forest Products gets tentative deal with Unifor

Resolute Forest Products and Unifor say an agreement has been reached on a four-year tentative contract agreement covering about 2,000 unionized workers at 11 of the company's mills in Ontario and Quebec.

The Montreal-based company says the deal, which must be ratified by the workers, includes undisclosed wage increases.

The agreement covers seven mills in Quebec: Amos, Baie-Comeau, Dolbeau, Gatineau, Kenogami, Laurentide and Saint-Felicien, and four operations in Ontario: Fort Frances, Iroquois Falls, Thorold and Thunder Bay.

Canada's largest private sector union targeted Resolute to help establish a pattern agreement for some 10,000 Unifor members at companies across the sector in eastern Canada.

"We are satisfied that we have reached an agreement in principle with the Unifor executive that is focused on the future," president and CEO Richard Garneau said in a news release on Friday.

"This agreement allows Resolute to continue productivity improvements and also to offer our employees good working conditions in several regions of Quebec and Ontario."

In a prepared statement, Unifor national president Jerry Dias said he is pleased with the outcome of the talks.

"In the past, our members have helped keep this company afloat, and now that the economic context has improved, it was time for them to make up some lost ground and ensure the security of their jobs. And that's what we were able to obtain."

Ratification votes will be conducted in the coming weeks, with the results expected to be revealed by the end of the month.

The newsprint, pulp, paper and lumber producer reached a contract in February with the union representing 1,500 of its workers at four U.S. sawmills

Resolute owns or operates over 40 pulp and paper mills and wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea, and power generation assets in Canada.