The union representing pulp and paper workers is honing its sales skills as it searches for companies to invest in shuttered B.C. mills and put its people back to work.
At the top of the list is West Fraser Timber Ltd.’s (TSX:WFT) pulp mill in Kitimat, which cut 535 workers when it closed its doors in January.
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada has contracted a third-party consulting firm to complete a feasibility study on the economic viability of the mill. The idea is to shop the study around to potential buyers who might be interested in the asset.
Michael Armstrong, a director of PricewaterhouseCooper’s global forest and paper practice, said the union has had to adopt new roles in recent years to cope with the downturn in B.C.’s forest industry.
“I think what’s happening with the parent company, and the unions realize this, if there’s no buyers for it … then the company is stuck with the mill, they have to shut it down and deal with the environmental and employee liabilities,” said Armstrong. “Since there’s no buyers they’re willing to give the unions a chance [to find one].”
Armstrong has worked with unions in the past to find investors for mills such as the former Pope & Talbot Harmac mill near Nanaimo. He also believes a union has to be willing to give up a few of its perks if it wants to find a buyer interested in a mothballed mill.
Said Armstrong: “The union still has to give concessions. They don’t have the magic solutions to make these mills run but what they have is time.”
Check out next week’s print edition of BIV for more about the union’s evolving role.