USW Urges Cooperation in Sale of Snowflake Mill

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USW Local 2688 President Mike Popovich, representing the 200 production workers who are losing their jobs at Snowflake paper, has urged owners of the facility to utilize the court-approved sale process to search for potential buyers that will want to run the mill. The sale of the paper mill reportedly will play out over the next several months.

"It's very early in the sale process Catalyst has laid out," Popovich said. "There is time for the company to work with its employees and the communities to find a buyer that is committed to making paper at Snowflake." Popovich announced the newly-named "Union Committee to Re-open Snowflake Paper," explaining he is confident that alternative paper products can be made by the mill.

"There is still a strong domestic market for paper products including brown bag paper, corrugating medium, and linerboard that are viable only if the infrastructure is retained for the paper machines," Popovich said. "We seek a public commitment from Catalyst Paper to do so."

According to the USW committee that negotiated a September 20 agreement addressing the effects of the shutdown, about 65 USW-represented workers at the Snowflake paper mill will be eligible to retire. A benefit package will be distributed to all of the union members that have severance pay for years of service, plus pay for unused vacation and earned holidays. Health care benefits will be provided by the company until the end of the month from when an employee is terminated.

The agreement also addresses recall rights plus retention and incentive pay for new hires with less than one-year of seniority. In addition, existing successorship protections for the USW in connection with a potential sale were preserved.

Popovich said the final day of work for the majority of maintenance and production workers at the paper mill is October 5, but there is a small group of maintenance employees that is scheduled to do wind down work until January 31, 2013. Production for large contract orders will run until late night shift on September 30. He said 100 salaried workers at Snowflake paper will also be affected by the mill shutdown.

According to Bob LaVenture, director for the eleven-state USW District 12 that represents the Arizona paper mill, the union has engaged a financial consultant to reach out to paper companies and other investors to encourage them to pursue an acquisition that will sustain the family-supportive and skilled jobs at the mill.

The Snowflake facility is located in the foothills of the White Mountains in northeastern Arizona. The sale includes the equipment and other assets associated with the paper mill, approximately 19,000 acres of land, and The Apache Railway Co.