AbitibiBowater Considering Restart of Dolbeau Mill after Workers Agree to Change Contracts

AbitibiBowater, Montreal, Que., Canada, is considering reopening a second shuttered Quebec paper mill after unionized workers in Dolbeau-Mistassini unanimously agreed to change their contracts, according to a report this week in the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The next step would be for AbitibiBowater to secure a government supply of fiber for at least five years and then address energy issues at the mill. .

Some 240 workers were employed at the Quebec mill, which has two specialty grade printing paper machines, when production ceased in June 2009. The mill was permanently closed a year later, along with a newsprint mill in Gatineau, Que. Each may reopen operating with just one paper machine.

"This is in the possibility of restarting the mill as it is in Gatineau, but we're not there yet. It's a first step," AbitibiBowater spokesman Pierre Choquette said in the newspaper article. As was the case in Gatineau, the report continues, workers agreed to some sub-contracting of mechanics and workshop functions and other changes that don't affect wages, pensions, or vacations.

AbitibiBowater also would have to resolve energy issues in the mill where Boralex has operated a cogeneration power plant. This would involve installing its own steam-generating operations.

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