Members of USW Local 27 will vote next Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 5th and 6th on whether to accept a contract offer by Woodland Pulp mill in Baileyville. The mill workers have been in tense negotiations with the company and are pushing for wage adjustments to reflect the increasing cost of living. If they decide to reject the offer and go on strike, the union would provide a 10-day notice to the company and the strike would begin just before Christmas.
“Union leadership is working with the international union and their attorneys and we’re utilizing all of the resources we have,” said USW Labor Representative Mike Higgins. “On Tuesday we’ll count the ballots and find out whether our members want to go on strike.”
Late last month, USW Local 27 projected the union’s “Bat Light” on the side of the the mill with the message: “Essential Workers Deserve a Fair Contract.” Prior to the last round of bargaining on Monday, USW 27 members made it clear that wages were a top concern.
“Over the past few years the members of Local 27 have been told to keep working, that we are essential, while we have faced COVID, brought it home to our families and even had to suffer the loss of our fellow union members. We continued to work while management worked from home,” said Local 27 member Matthew LaPlant. “Now pulp is at record prices and we are being pushed for every minute of uptime we can get. Every month we are told we set new shipping records. If we can face these dangers, and then ship more pulp than ever with record prices, then the company should step up and pay a fair wage.”
“We are not being unrealistic in asking for competitive wages based on the current cost of living. The company doesn’t seem to be willing to make an investment to their future by paying their workers. And we are willing to voice our displeasure,” said Local 27 bargaining team member Lee Chabre. “We all have an oil barrel, vehicles to fill with fuel and groceries to buy. Inflation hits us all. We didn’t skip a beat all through COVID and didn’t shut down. I wish they could make us feel like we’re worth it by meeting our economic demands… because we prove it every day.”
“As President of Local 27 I believe these wages and benefits we are requesting are not unreasonable and are necessary for us to keep up with inflation. If I felt that our demands were excessive, I would be the first to stand before the membership and say so,” said Local 27 President Shawn Howland. “These ongoing negotiations have left us feeling unappreciated and unvalued considering the hard work and resilience our members showed during COVID. Our production numbers are at an all-time high, largely due to the efforts of the hourly employees here at Woodland.”