18 May, 2009
The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada launched a national fight-back campaign Friday, 15 May, in front of the Montréal headquarters of AbitibiBowater, the world’s biggest producer of newsprint. AbitibiBowater is seeking to avoid its pension obligations through bankruptcy filings.
The ICEM affiliate’s main target, however, is the Canadian government. The federal government has done too little to protect the jobs of forestry workers, asserts the CEP.
“Workers are not responsible for the crisis in the forest industry, but we are the ones facing demands for cuts to our wages and pensions,” said CEP President Dave Coles.
“It is totally unfair that a company like AbitibiBowater can use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying severance and making payments to the pension plan,” he added.
CEP President Dave Coles
On 7 May, a Superior Court in the Province of Québec issued an order that the paper company could suspend pension payments into its unfunded liabilities account for workers, thus shrinking that account and pushing workers’ pension payments on Abitibi’s creditors list.
“There is something seriously wrong with a system that puts workers’ pensions in the same category as hedge fund credit,” said CEP Secretary-Treasurer Gaétan Ménard. “When workers go to work to earn a living and a pension, they certainly don’t see themselves as venture capitalists making a risky investment.
Last Friday’s CEP action in Montréal was the first in a string of manifestations that the union will do in attempts to shake the Conservative government of Stephen Harper into taking action on behalf of forest industry jobs. CEP is demanding that the Canadian federal government weigh in with loan guarantees to halt paper and wood mill closures, and to protect jobs and pensions.
“There will be a lot of pressure,” said Coles. “We’re going to take to the streets and we’re going to make noise until we’re heard.” Further actions will target Canadian federal cabinet ministers and a mass rally is scheduled in the capital city of Ottawa on 2 June.
Meanwhile, due to AbitibiBowater’s bankruptcy filing, the CEP and ICEM American affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), have taken a wait-and-see position before entering into bargaining with AbitibiBowater. The CEP and USW have agreed to coordinate bargaining at the newsprint producer’s 12 mills in eastern Canada, where the CEP represents 7,000 workers, and at a USW-represented mill in the state of South Carolina.
A pulp and paper collective agreement covering the entire industry in eastern Canada, with AbitibiBowater expected as the lead negotiating company, expired on 30 April, while a labour agreement in Catawba, South Carolina, covering 1,000 workers expired on 24 April for USW branch locals there.