Company town, no company: Grand Falls-Windsor stares at uncertainty

The hum of a newsprint mill that has been a constant of life throughout the history of Grand Falls-Windsor will soon be silenced, and residents of the central Newfoundland town are pondering what that silence will mean.

AbitibiBowater announced Thursday it will close its aging mill before the end of March, putting about 450 people out of work. Hundreds more work in forestry, shipping and other jobs that depend on the newsprint mill.

"People were sort of, wow, it's happened. We can't believe it. Is this for real? And it is for real," said Grand Falls-Windsor Mayor Rex Barnes, who nonetheless remains optimistic the town will survive the closure of its largest private employer.

"We have to go about it in a very positive way. We know that the day is a sad day, but at the same time, the era of making paper is going to be behind us. We have to look at the new economy of Grand Falls-Windsor and central Newfoundland."

Grand Falls was founded in 1905, when the Harmsworth family launched plans to harvest timber by the Exploits family for its newspaper empire in England. The mill went into production in 1909. Grand Falls merged with neighbouring Windsor the town built by people who didn't work at the mill in the early 1990s.

Workers have often criticized Abitibi for not investing over the years in upgrades and modernization.

The closure comes after months of conflict between the money-losing Montreal-based newsprint giant and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, whose members twice rejected restructuring proposals that the company put forward. Both involved layoffs.

In November, the union stunned the company with an 88 per cent rejection of what Abitibi called its final offer.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but there are no regrets," said Gary Healey, a CEP official.

"Abitibi tried to come to Grand Falls division and act like carpetbaggers, and that just wasn't on."

Although many workers hoped the rejection would spur AbitibiBowater officials to return to the bargaining table, the company which posted a quarterly loss of $302 million US just days after the union vote never took up the union's offer.

"I guess we're all devastated. A lot of us got a lot of years' service," said mill worker Dave Goodyear. "I guess we have to find employment somewhere else."

But fellow worker Eli Sheppard said the writing was clearly on the wall.

"I'm not surprised because I thought that this was going to happen when the union rejected the deal," said Sheppard. "So I'm really not surprised."

The impact of the closure will affect most businesses in Grand Falls-Windsor, even though the town's economy has diversified beyond being a simple one-industry town.

Sherri Burt, whose cafe depends on clientele from the mill, said at least months of fear and anxiety are ending.

"It's been going on for too long now, I guess. It's a good thing that the people know what's in store for them," Burt told CBC News.

"It will make a difference to the business, but at least now the people that have to deal with the layoffs are knowing where they stand."