Mill buyer seeks pay cuts for unions
More details were released this weekend on negotiations between California firm Meriturn Partners and the owner of the two Katahdin Paper Co. mills it's interested in buying, and a proposed union contract that includes a $2 per-hour pay cut.
The initial bargaining agreement Meriturn proposed to the half-dozen unions also included cuts to vacation time and seniority status, according to the Bangor Daily News. In the five-year contract, some starting positions at the East Millinocket and Millinocket mills would pay $11 an hour, and the highest-paid workers would make $19.63 an hour, making workers there the lowest-paid paper mill employees in Maine, Louis Ouellette, president of United Steelworkers Local 152, told the paper. Union officials are still in talks with the firm and have not immediately voted down the proposal, because "in this area we live in, there's nowhere else I can make $19 or $20 an hour," Ouellette said.
Meriturn signed a letter of intent in February to buy the two mills, one of which is currently shuttered, from Brookfield Asset Management for $1. Last week, the company asked town officials for property tax reductions over a 10-year period that would amount to $48 million, an offer still under negotiation. Brookfield plans to close the East Millinocket mill April 22, while Meriturn's deadline to finalize its deal is April 29. If the mill closes, about 450 workers would be affected. A public hearing on Meriturn's proposal is scheduled tonight in East Millinocket.
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