Fraser Papers workers protest restructuring plan

Fraser Papers workers are calling a restructuring planthat could see the New Brunswick government takean equity stake in the company that is slashing their pensions"perverse."

More than 150 workers and retirees protested outside the legislative assembly on Tuesday, expressing their anger over the struggling forestry company's restructuring plan that could see the employees lose 40 per cent of their pensions.

"It's I think a bit perverse when the government of the day ends up being part-owners of the company, takes preferred shares in the company, while our members walk away with 60 per cent of their pension," said Ervan Cronk, a representative with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.

Cronksaid it's unfair that the provincial government will take an ownership stake in the company, while employees aren't even part of Thursday's bankruptcy hearing.

The provincial government has turned $35 million worth of loans to Fraser Papers into an equity stake in the troubled company.

The preferred share also means the province is ahead of common shareholders if Fraser pays a dividend to investors or has to liquidate its assets. Fraser has mills in Edmundston, Plaster Rock and Juniper.

Bankrutpcy hearing on Thursday

Business New Brunswick Minister Victor Boudreau was reluctant to explain the intricacies of the arrangement as he said the proposal was going to be heard in this week's bankruptcy hearing.

An Ontario judge will be asked on Thursday to approve theFraser Papers restructuring plan.

The union wants the pension money put into a trust fund so it's protected. The provincial government said it can't structure a trust fund as requested by the employees, but the federal government can and should follow the union's demand.

New Brunswick's Labour Minister Donald Arseneault met with the workers and retirees who protested outside the legislature on Tuesday.

Arseneault said the provincial government didn't make pension security a condition of its investment earlier this year because Fraser Papers needed the money to modernize its plants and make them profitable.

"They need to take some of those dollars to reinvest," Arseneault said.

The union said the provincial government promised action to help them a month ago and now time is running out.

Real Couturier, a retired Fraser Papers employee, was one of the people who expressed his frustration with how his pension could be drastically reduced under the restructuring plan.

"I'm going to lose 40 per cent of my pension, not five or 10 per cent. It's 40 per cent, almost 50 per cent," Couturier said.

About 700 other retirees and 300 current employees are in Couturier's position.

The union leader said governments and big corporations are in front of the workers when it comes to getting assistance in the restructuring plan.

"These are the real people. Everybody else that's in that queue are organizations, they're governments, organizations," Cronk said.

"The real people who created the company, made the company successful, poured their whole life into the company, expecting to get a decent pension when they retire, are standing outside the door, forced to pay for their own lawyer, forced to do stuff like this to get justice."