The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.30           August 24, 1998 
 
 
Strikers Return To Work At One Quebec Paper Mill  

BY GRANT HARGRAVE AND SEBASTIEN DESAUTELS
SHAWINIGAN, Quebec - More than 4,000 paperworkers, members of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP), are continuing their strike against Abitibi-Consolidated, following the return to work by unionists at one of the company's plants. The strike began June 15 and involves workers in Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland. The central issue is the unionists' refusal to accept the company's demand to negotiate on a plant-by-plant basis.

On July 27 the members of CEP Local 216, which represents the majority of production workers at Abitibi-Consolidated's Wayagamack mill, voted 235 to 157 to return to work. The same day CEP Local 222, which includes the paper machine operators at the mill, announced they had, a week earlier, voted 133 to 11 in favor of returning to work.

The reopening of the Wayagamack mill in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, followed an intense campaign by the company, which threatened to close the plant permanently if the workers did not return to work. Local media and capitalist politicians joined in to put pressure on the unionists. Abitibi- Consolidated has been threatening to close the plant for years. The day after the vote, plant manager Jean-Luc Pellerin was interviewed on television. Asked if the future of the plant was now assured, he responded, "It is something that we have to look at day by day."

Strikers picketing the mills in Grand-Mere and Shawinigan, just north of Trois-Rivieres, the day after the Wayagamack votes were announced, spoke of the intense pressure on the Wayagamack workers.

Denis Carriere, a striking paper machine operator at Shawinigan, said, "The company won a battle, but they haven't won the war." Carriere went on to say that he "would be surprised if the strike lasted less than six months." Workers on the picket lines report that the Wayagamack mill was a special case, and they expect strikers at the remaining 10 mills will be able to maintain their united front against the company.

Gilles Sicotte, a striker and union official at Grand- Mere, said the strike is not about wages, it is simply to force the company to negotiate. He added that each Abitibi- Consolidated plant produces about 5 percent of the company's output, so it would be very easy for the company "to take us on, one by one, and we would lose."

Abitibi-Consolidated is the world's largest newsprint producer and its biggest paper exporter. The strike affects close to half its total production. The contract signed with Abitibi is expected to serve as a pattern for 20,000 other paperworkers in eastern Canada.

Grant Hargrave is a member of the International Association of Machinists. Sébastien Desautels is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and the Young Socialists. Annette Kouri also contributed to this article.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home