Unifor frustrated by floundering plans to save Fort Frances mill

Unifor is calling on the province to take action to save the now idle pulp mill in Fort Frances.

The union says there are a number of things the province could be doing to help the forest industry recover to save jobs.

But they also have an immediate request.

Our No.1 hope is that the province will agree to pay for the heating of the mill through the winter so the assets are protected, Unifors Scott Dougherty said.

The governments continued failure to take action is putting the future of Ontarios recovering forestry sector in jeopardy.-Unifornational president Jerry Dias

The union believes the mill can reopen, Dougherty noted, adding a big opportunity was lost when purchase talks with Expera a Wisconsin-based paper company failed. The acquisition would have resulted in 200 jobs at the facility and another 800 related jobs, the union states.

Dougherty, who is the assistant to Unifor national president Jerry Dias, said the union has been patiently waiting for some action.

We felt it was time that we needed to at least voice our opinion and let people know that we are on it and that we do think that there needs to be some serious discussions with the government and Resolute and Expera or any other potential purchaser of that mill, he said.

Expera was the perfect solution, because they didn't compete with any of the markets that Resolute was in. Thats the other key piece. Resolute is obviously not going to sell an asset to somebody who's going to compete in the markets they have."

Unifor is also calling on the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry to immediately establish a multi-stakeholder taskforce to make recommendations regarding forestry licensing and resource management.

The governments continued failure to take action is putting the future of Ontarios recovering forestry sector in jeopardy, said Dias in a recent press release, adding that Ontario is now at risk of losing the Fort Frances pulp mill asset and the possibility of 1,000 jobs in the community.