The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.29           August 10, 1998 
 
 
Striking Paperworkers In Canada Stand Up To Company Intimidation  

BY MICHEL DUGRÉ
TROIS-RIVIERES, Quebec - On July 13, paperworkers at the Wayagamak plant of Abitibi-Consolidated in this small town in the heart of Quebec defeated a second attempt by the company to break the unity among close to 5,000 members of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) in Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland, who have been on strike since June 15.

Workers at the Wayagamak plant in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, decided to continue being part of the strike, despite threats by the company to close down their plant because of lost contracts since the beginning of the strike. Threats to close down the plant, supported by an intense campaign by local media and the Trois-Rivieres mayor, got different responses by workers at the Wayagamak plant.

At a press conference announcing a meeting where the question of continuing the strike would be discussed, strikers were seen shouting, "We want to go back to work."

The majority of workers, however, had a different view. "I've been working here for more than 30 years, and I can tell you that each time we had negotiations or a strike the company threatened to close down the plant, and each time we signed a new contract the company announced new investments to improve its capacity," said one worker at the Wayagamak plant who didn't want to be identified. "Nothing of what we have today was given to us. We had to fight for it," he added.

"My two brothers-in-law work at the General Motors plant near Montreal, and they too are being threatened by a plant shut down," said Pierre Ricard from Shawinigan. "But we shouldn't give in under such threats."

Similar threats have also been made against the Abitibi plant in Chandler, Quebec. But it took only a few hours for workers there to push back this attempt and decide to continue their strike.

Early in the strike the company challenged the way the strike votes had been taken by workers in its four Ontario plants. Workers responded by rapidly taking new strike votes that got the support of more than 95 percent of workers.

A similar attempt to use the courts to end the strike at two other plants in Newfoundland is still pending.

The contract signed with Abitibi is expected to serve as a pattern for 20,000 other paperworkers in eastern Canada. They are following the strike very closely. Members of 25 CEP locals in Quebec have decided, for example, to give two hours of pay per week to help workers on strike.

No negotiations have taken place so far with Abitibi on the content of a new contract. The strike is essentially around the refusal by workers to negotiate plant by plant as the company wishes.

Abitibi-Consolidated is the world's largest newsprint producer and its biggest paper exporter. The strike affects close to half its total production.

Abitibi tries to take advantage of a relatively depressed worldwide paper market to break the union and inflict a blow on workers that would allow the company to become more competitive in this industry marked by overcapacity.

The price of pulp, a benchmark product used to make tissue and paper, is about US$550 a ton, or half what it cost in 1995. Another example is the price of offset photocopying paper, which is currently at around US$725 a short ton compared with as much as $1,000 two years ago.

The paper industry is going through a process of restructuring as companies around the world are combining to boost their profits.

Abitibi itself is the result of a merger last year between Abitibi-Price and Stone-Consolidated. In early June of this year, Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB and Enso Oyj, the second-largest forest products companies in Sweden and Finland respectively agreed to merge, creating the world's biggest paper maker.

While the economic crisis in Asia is reducing world paper demand, giant paper companies are eyeing Asian companies as easy targets for their drive to expand their production. Abitibi-Consolidated signed an agreement early July with the Norwegian paper giant Norske to invest in Hansol Paper of south Korea and establish a joint venture with production capacity representing 18 percent of Asia's market, including Japan. In March Norske bought a 70 percent stake in Shinho Paper of Thailand, and in mid-May bought Shinho's south Korean newsprint plant for $175 million.

This deep competition for markets and profits drives paper companies to attack workers' income and working conditions. But workers at the Wayagamak plant in Trois- Rivieres, as well as thousands of other CEP members across Eastern Canada, have decided to fight to defend their union and working conditions.

Michel Dugré is member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and the Communist League candidate for mayor of Montreal.

 
 
 
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