Resolute Pleased with Employee Support for Collective Agreement Renewals

Resolute Forest Products Inc., Montreal, Que., Canada, says that it is pleased with employee support for renewal of collective agreements in Canada. An agreement in principle was entered into between Unifor and the company on May 8, to renew the collective agreements for a four-year period. This agreement in principle was submitted and accepted by a strong majority of union members during the ratification process over the past few weeks in each mill covered by the agreement. 

This agreement covers nearly 2,000 employees across 11 Resolute pulp and paper mills in Canada, consisting of the Quebec mills of Amos, Baie-Comeau, Dolbeau, Gatineau, Kénogami, Laurentide, and Saint-Félicien, as well as the Ontario mills of Fort Frances, Iroquois Falls, Thorold, and Thunder Bay. The 11 facilities account for more than 41% of Resolute's total pulp and paper capacity. 

The agreement with Unifor was reached two months after Resolute and the United Steel Workers (USW) renewed, prior to their expiration, the collective agreements of Resolute's U.S. mills of Catawba (South Carolina ) and Calhoun (Tennessee), now expiring in 2019, and Coosa Pines (Alabama ) and Augusta (Georgia), now expiring in 2020. 

"We are delighted with the strong support expressed by our employees for the agreement entered into between Resolute and Unifor," said President and CEO Richard Garneau. "This agreement will help us keep our Canadian pulp and paper mills competitive and preserves our position as a financially strong and reliable supplier for our customers. We are pleased to see that our employees and their union leaders appreciate the nature of the issues and challenges facing our company, such as accessing forest resources, controlling costs, and challenging market dynamics for some of our end-use paper products." 

Resolute Forest Products produces a diverse range of products, including newsprint, specialty papers, market pulp, and wood products. The company owns or operates nearly 40 pulp and paper mills and wood products facilities in the U.S., Canada, and South Korea, and power generation assets in Canada.