Pension issue to be solved soon Local 64 president expects

The president of the largest union at Corner Brook Pulp and Paper is confident the mill’s parent company will get the pension funding relief measures it was denied in May.

Prior to the spring vote, Kruger Inc. had indicated it required a fiveyear extension to repay the unfunded portion of the pension plans for both retired and current mill workers.

Not getting its former and active employees to agree to the funding relief measures would have placed the viability of the mill’s operations in jeopardy, according to Kruger.

It seemed as though the plan would get approval from both sides until the unions noticed a concerning section in the language of the company’s proposal that may have had an impact on their pension formulas after 2014.

The concern was that current provincial legislation, namely Section 8 (1)(k) of the Solvency Funding Relief Regulations, might allow Kruger to not honour all of its commitments to the pension fund.

While pensioners voted almost unanimously to agree to the extension anyway, it was rejected by the unions. That rejection resulted in the company insisting that new collective agreements be worked out with the unions and, if new contracts were agreed to, then a second vote would be held on the pension issue.

New labour deals were reached with four of the six unions in the mill and a second consideration of the funding relief measures for the pension is now in the works.

Retired and active employees who still disagree with the extension have until Aug. 17 to send in the forms sent to them by Kruger. Not sending in the form will be taken as an approval of the request.

Brian Quigley, president of Local 64 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, expects the request will be granted this time around.

“The provincial government has come through with a letter saying they will change the legislation if they have to in order to ensure the company lives up to its obligations,” said Quigley. “I think that should satisfy everyone’s concerns.”

The unions will keep that letter from government in their back pockets and will hold the province to that promise, but Quigley has no reason to believe the regulations will not be amended, if necessary.

The province has already stated publicly that it will do just that. On June 6, Service NL Minister Paul Davis issued a newss release stating that government regulations would not impede an agreement between Kruger and the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper unions.

“... And if they did, we would change the regulations,” assured Davis.

As they did prior to the first vote in the spring, the union met with its membership to explain the details of the company’s proposal. The company will hold meetings with retired and current workers prior to next Friday’s deadline.