Workers Ratify New Agreement at Wausau Paper, Thilmany Mills
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United Steelworkers (USW), Philadelphia, Pa., USA, reports that its members at Wausau Paper's Rhinelander, Wis., and Mosinee, Wis., mills and the Thilmany mill in Kaukauna, Wis., have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with KPS Capital Partners in anticipation of the private equity firm successfully creating the largest specialty paper company in North America. USW local 2-00015 and local 01778 represent workers at the Rhinelander mill. USW local 2-00221 and local 2-00316 represent workers at the Mosinee mill. USW local 2-00020 represents workers at the Kaukauna mill. This agreement represents "a new beginning" for about 1,400 paper workers at these three mills, USW notes.
"We are proud of the leadership that our local unions have shown in bringing their respective memberships together to ratify this important deal in the specialty paper sector," said USW President Leo W. Gerard. "This particular piece of the industry still has enormous growth potential and has long been in need of a new strategic vision to capitalize on that opportunity."
"The overwhelming vote makes a powerful statement about how our members are committed to ensuring the long-term viability of these plants," said USW International VP Jon Geenen, who heads the union's paper sector.
The new four-year agreement includes wage increases, benefit improvements, and it locks in retirement security.
"The approach KPS took in working through these negotiations to create a world-class paper company should serve as a reminder to hostile, short-sighted venture capitalists—and even our own state government—that a big part of value creation is people sitting down together to solve difficult problems," said USW District 2 (Wisconsin and Michigan) Director Michael Bolton.
The USW is the largest industrial union in North America and has 850,000 members in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. The union represents workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, atomic energy, and the service sector.
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