Offer on table for Pine Falls paper mill

A former Tembec executive is making a bid to buy thecompany's newsprint mill in Pine Falls, Man.

The mill has been idle since Sept. 1 when Tembec locked out unionized workers at the plant. In December, the Montreal-based company said it would sell the operation, or permanently close it if it couldn't find a buyer.

The offer to buy the mill is coming from by J.P. Burdett, a former sales executive with Tembec, who revealed his plan at acommunity meetingWednesday night, according to Charles Norman, a Manitoba newspaper publisher who attended the meeting.

The planwould cutproduction costs through wage cuts and layoffs.

However, Cam Sokoloski, president of the United Steelworkers which represents 155 people atthe mill, says Burdett is offereing his union 35 per of the plant.

Sokoloskialso says Burdett is trying topersuade the nearby Sagkeeng First Nation and other bands in the area to be part of the deal.

On Wednesday, the Manitoba Labour Board ordered the lockout at the Tembec plant to end.

Becausethe company does not plantoreopen the mill, about 250 locked out workers will be issued layoff notices and become eligible to apply for Employment Insurance benefits.

But workers said they'd rather see the mill reopened than go on EI.

The mill is about 130 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.