06) ABITIBI-BOWATER CLOSURES: COMPANY NOT LEAVING NEWFOUNDLAND QUIETLY

(The following article is from the May 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Sean Burton

AbitibiBowater has not (been) making any friends among Newfoundland workers by shutting down two paper mills. The closure of the Stephenville mill in 2005 went ahead with little protest from the provincial government. The company justified that move by the mill's small size and cost of shipping lumber from Labrador, but that did not apply to the decision late last year to shut down its much larger facilities in Grand Falls-Windsor. The Danny Williams government reacted strongly by expropriating AbitibiBowater's remaining holdings in the province: "You came in with none of those resources, you leave with none of those resources", said Williams in December 2008.

     Now AbitibiBowater apparently seeks to add insult to injury. Even last December, the company complained bitterly about the nationalization of their property, and announced that they would take retaliatory action via NAFTA protocols which make it illegal for a government to interfere with the holdings of international corporations without providing compensation in the form of "fair market value". As of April 2009, the company is seeking $300 million in compensation.

     The company has also obtained bankruptcy protection in Canada due to debt problems. Closing mills in Newfoundland was one thing, but bear in mind that 11,000 of the company's 16,000 employees are in Canada. How safe is the rest of country from a desperate corporation? If recent events are any indication, the answer is tenuous at best.

     In the midst of this mess, AbitibiBowater has cut off pensions to its former Newfoundland employees. That move has effectively cancelled the income of many retired workers in Grand Falls-Windsor. One 61-year old man mused that he might have to return to work to supplement the comparatively meagre Canada Pension he and his wife receive! As if that were not bad enough, the company has announced that, "for the time being", the remaining $28 million in severance pay would be suspended.

     The union representing the mill workers has said it will fight that decision in court. The provincial government may also make it an issue when it determines what it will pay for NAFTA compensation. The severance packages vary from $40,000 to $100,000, no small amount of money, but necessary to help these now-unemployed workers. Combined with the cancellation of the pensions, young and old workers are both being screwed over.

     AbitibiBowater is behaving in a despicable manner. Because they are losing money, workers are expected to accept their position, and let them do what they "must" to stay afloat. But that would mean forgetting or dismissing people's livelihoods.

     After terminating jobs and spitting in workers' faces, the company has a lot of gall to come back crying for compensation. AbitibiBowater has already lost almost a billion dollars. Is the compensation from Newfoundland's government going to end the recession that put them in such dire straits? It would be laughable indeed to think so! And let us not forget that this search for compensation is through NAFTA. Maybe some eyes have been opened lately to see the true nature of this trade deal - defending the rights of the rich against those of the poor.