Issue 12 G June 2008

Please copy Pulp Truth front and back and distribute it during non-work time using your Contract Action Teams, steward system or Rapid Response network. Be sure to leave copies in lunchrooms, break rooms, etc. We want to hear what’s happening in your workplace. Send your news to [email protected] Contracts Reopening in June If your local is not listed here, please contact PT editor Temple-Inland, Bogalusa, LA, June 2 Lynne Baker at [email protected] to have your contract listed. Weyerhaeuser Co., Plymouth, NC, June 2 Weyerhaeuser Co., Olive Branch, MS, June 2 International Paper, Bastrop, La., June 1 Georgia-Pacific, Franklin, MA, June 7 Great Lakes Corr., Toledo, OH, June 1 Newark Group, Los Angeles, CA, June 11 Webers Display, Philadelphia, PA, June 1 Smead Manufacturing, McGregor, TX, June 12 Compak, Inc., Durand, MI, June 1 Smurfit-Stone Cont., Tyler, TX, June 12 Intertape Polymer, Menasha, WI, June 1 Massillon Container, Navarre, OH, June 15 P.C.A., Ackerman, MS, June 1 New England Wooden, Gardner, MA, June 16 Domtar, Plymouth, NC, June 2 Georgia-Pacific, Pryor, OK, June 17 MeadWestvaco, Silsbee, TX, June 2 Sappi Fine Paper, Westbrook, ME, June 23 MeadWestvaco, Evadale, TX, June 2 Caraustar Industries, Minerva, OH, June 24 Smurfit-Stone Cont., Jefferson, OH, June 2 Newark Group, Ludlow, MA, June 29

N N N N N N N USW Paves Way for Former Pope & Talbot Workers The USW’s private equity track record paid off for paper expertise in private equity transactions, worked with our workers in Halsey, Ore. Ableco Finance LLC, which con- union as part of the transaction process. tacted our union to recognize it and work on a collective bar- Pope & Talbot filed for bankruptcy last November. In gaining agreement, was the winning bidder for bankrupt May, the company transferred from Chapter 11 reorganiza- Pope & Talbot Inc.’s remaining U.S. pulp mill in Halsey, tion to Chapter 7 liquidation and shut down the Halsey mill Ore. This was a sure sign that the 140 workers represented along with two mills in British Columbia. by the USW at the former mill will return to work after being Prior to the June 3 bidding auction for Pope & Talbot, unemployed for almost a month. This is also good news for George Miller, the court-appointed trustee of the company’s USW members at the nearby Georgia-Pacific Halsey paper remaining U.S. assets, said the mill was likely to be mill, which relies on water and steam from the Pope & reopened. Talbot pulp mill to produce paper towels. The tissue and “With the amount of money (the bidders) are willing to towel mill also uses compressed air supplied by the pulp mill expend, I don’t think they want to knock it down and make a to drive the GP facility’s machinery. baseball park,” he said. Ableco, which is a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital USW District 12 representative Ernie Lamoureux said he Management and a major lien holder against Pope & Talbot, was hopeful the mill would be up and running the week of was the winner out of five bids and due to the USW’s proven June 9. N N N N N N N Locals Need to Participate in Health and Safety Study We all know how dangerous our jobs can be. That’s why to occur and how they are prevented; types of training that our union is conducting the Paper Research-Action Project are needed; how health and safety issues are handled (safety (Paper RAP) over the next two years. During the next 12 culture); work organization (hours of work, workload, pace, months we will study health and safety in the mills, which etc.); how your health and safety committee functions; and will involve about 400 locals. Following completion of the the role of contractors in health and safety. mill study, paper converting plants will be focused on and It is important your local fills out the survey because the this will involve about 375 locals. results will be used to mobilize locals around health and Each local will be given one survey to fill out and will have to safety issues; benchmark health and safety in the industry; coordinate with all sections, units or locals at each mill and plant, create goals for the locals and the USW Health, Safety and as well as with their international representative. Environment department; advocate for better government Questions will focus on what major issues or problems are regulations and enforcement; bargain for health and safety causing injuries, fatalities and disease; potential for disasters improvements; and educate the membership through training. USW Merger with Unite Creates Transatlantic Super Union At the June 30-July 3 international convention, our union sector, said his union has a national agreement in paper and will discuss the plan to merge with Unite, a trade union in packaging. He said his union has not encountered the level of the U.K. and Ireland. Unite has 30,000 packaging industry anti-union behavior experienced by American paper workers. members in the UK and its members are in similar compa- The U.S. multinationals are in European Works Councils nies, such as IP, SCA, Kimberly-Clark, Smurfit-Stone and where there is labor and management representation. As part MeadWestvaco. of these councils, the workers have more legal rights to busi- The merger would be a first step in coordinating collective ness information and consultation. There is also stronger bargaining and would give the unions more bargaining power employment legislation in the UK than in the U.S. when dealing with multinational companies. Burke said the reception his delegation received at the Our union finalized the details of a framework agreement conference was “phenomenal.” “We learned a lot from the with Unite the third week of May. USW,” he said. “The close relationship between Unite and Several Unite officials attending the April national paper the USW leading to the merger is built on a solid founda- bargaining conference said the issues their paper workers tion.” face are the same concerns as those voiced by USW mem- Craig Foster, deputy convener of a Georgia-Pacific facility bers: health and safety, dealing with a global company and north of Manchester, UK, said he met some strong contacts handling the changing nature of the paper industry. from other GP facilities in the U.S. which will be invaluable “We work at the same companies with the same machinery in the future. “I think the merger of the two unions will be and the same problems,” said Clive Bell, senior mill representa- fantastic for both unions,” he said. tive at the SCA Hygiene Products UK Limited Prudhoe mill. Bell said he also was impressed with the conference and There are also differences. Unite Assistant General that it was “inspirational.” “I think the Steelworkers are very Secretary Tony Burke, who heads the graphical and paper determined in their solidarity,” he said.

N N N N N N N USW Officials Request Meeting with Top-Level Newark Management USW International President Leo W. Gerard and USW shutdowns to scare members into accepting agreements that International Vice President Jon Geenen sent a letter on May undercut industry standards, and threatened or forced local 28 to Newark Group, Inc. President and CEO Robert H. unions to collect dues manually. Mullen requesting a meeting. They said the company’s “We have demonstrated that we are willing to work with actions, if not remedied, will lead to additional confrontation management to address the issues and needs that the compa- and impact members’ relationship with the company. ny brings to the table, but not at the expense of respect and As of press time, Newark responded to the letter and dignity on the shop floor,” the letter stated. agreed to a meeting. Delegates to the national paper bargaining conference in Newark has locked and frozen the pension plans at multi- April voted unanimously to condemn the company for its ple locations in an attempt to eliminate defined benefit pen- unwarranted attacks and to deal fairly with the more than 700 sions, unlawfully put into place changes to the terms and USW-represented workers at 12 Newark facilities. About 40 conditions of employment, refused to provide information percent of Newark’s hourly workers in North America are requested by union negotiators in good faith, threatened plant represented by the USW.

N N N N N N N News Briefs Highland Capital Management LP, a Dallas-based about the risks associated with Asian paper imports and group of investment funds, bought the assets of Marcal how they carry a higher degree of risk-by-association Paper Mills Inc. on May 30. The paper manufacturing and based on questionable sustainability and environmental recycling company had filed for bankruptcy in November practices, logistics issues and labor practices. The site 2006, blaming high energy costs. A federal court judge and raises questions and explores issues of concern surround- the USW had approved the deal five months earlier. In accor- ing some Asian imports and the questionable practices dance with the deal our union signed, there will be no job behind some paper manufacturing operations there. cuts, but there will be a three-year wage freeze and conces- International Paper’s Brazilian plant in Três sions on overtime, health care and pensions. Our union repre- Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul state will be the compa- sents 60 percent of the Marcal work force. About 900 ny’s most modern facility in the world. The plant will employees worked at the company at the time the deal was open in the first quarter of 2009 and have an initial pro- done. duction capacity of 200,000 tons of paper a year. IP’s Do you know where your paper comes from? two other Brazilian plants are in Mogi Guaçu and Luiz NewPage Corporation has created a website— Antônio and produce a combined 800,000 tons of paper www.PaperTellsAStory.com—to inform consumers a year.