Three unions representing workers at Verso Paper’s Bucksport mill yesterday approved a new, four-year contract, averting a possible strike.
After rejecting a contract proposal earlier this month, the United Steelworkers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ratified a contract that raises Verso’s cap on matching employees’ 401(k) plans, and calls for a one-percent wage increase in each of the next three years and a 0.5% increase in the fourth year, Duane Lugdon, a USW representative, told Mainebiz this morning.
“I think the wages are certainly less than we wanted, but we made great strides in the benefit area,” Ludgon said.