STORA Pulpmill in trouble

[nelk]

STORA management ermerged after meeting with Unions and Stakeholders.
The future for this mill is bleak unless some corporate welfare is received.
Dollarvalue, slump in sales and increased Powerrates are some of the stated reasons.
And of course after many good years and virtually free or dirtcheap stumpage and woodlot grants/leases no mercy .
Unions and management are in a strike/lockout situation .
The STORA mill is one of the few places of major employment and a closure and loss of over 600 empolyees plus supplier services etc.. is going to be a hard hit and knockout for Cape Breton and North eastern Nova Scotia.
The power rate was also jacked up for the rest of NS; NSPC has been privatised some years ago ,demonstrating poor maintenance and a degrading of infrastructure in the maintime, but excellent returns to shareholders.
This was one of the last straws to tipp the balance.

Lots of things can be said; a real Canadian problem,where raw resources are not in Canadian hands no more.

Management will have to suffer a bit too, because of the housingprices taking a beating when unloading their houses.
Severance packages and paid relocation to some far away mill will take care of those; but to hell with the workingman.

 

[nelk]

Sorry for posting this item;
not important or significant ,eh?

Lets all have another (whatever) one and speak after me:

ALL IS WELL IN LALACANLAND!

 

[Jay]

The future for this mill is bleak unless some corporate welfare is received.

Is the province going to do anything about it?

 

[nelk]

Hello Jay, as far as News :
No solution/offer from NS Govmt, yet.
It has been reported that STORA/ENSO is not interested in a onetime
corporate welfarecheck but insists on major changes in the NS economic landscape.
I agree with them on that one.
Part of the problem is the increased powerrate; for John Doe and friends about 12cents incl.Taxes per kWh,
larger businesses as far as I had knowledge range into the 4 cents or less area.
NS has one of the highest rates in Canada, but this is pail to what they pay over in Europe.

But the privatization of NSPower has been put through legislation and rammed down our throat with little input from people of this Province. In effect stealing from the peoples of NS.
If the price and transfer agreemnets would have been farsighted, fair and in the interest of Nova Scotians, none of the big corporate boys would have jumped in .But at bargain basement price...,don't blame them; they are just corporation and devoid of any human
interests.
By the way, are parties corporations too?? that may explain things


Now don't get me wrong, I strongly believe in free Enterprise etc
but naivly insist on a level playingfield.

NS still has to wake up; too many wrong moves.

Too bad not enough posters from these nice parts.

Like Premiers Hamm's goodby gift to "MAGIC VALLEY" where summerstudents do the work but with questenable
employment policies; but then it is only a "forgivable'' loan of trivial size $350 000.00

 

[Nuggler]

Hey Nelk:

It seems the country has been going to hell in a handbasket for a few years now.

Something's privatized here, a plant closes there, softwood tarriffs, mad cow.

Do you see a plan?

I'm not politically savy enough to give an educated opinion, but the free trade deal engineered by the great Muldoon a few years back may have precipitated much of what we see.

JOBS JOBS JOBS...........member that??

If "they" tried to get us all at once, there might be a bit of a nasty scene; but if "they" pick us apart one at a time, the rich may continue to get richer, and the rest of us will scour the junk yard for car parts.

Not up on the political scene in NS, but, if it's anything like the rest of the country, it's mostly the working guy taking it in the ass.......eh wot?? (with the exception of Alberta where Joe workie makes 100K a year and it only costs him 90K to live......big success story)

Hang in there........hang a conservative....... :idea:

PS.....well, don't ACTUALLY hang one. Just maybe a tap in the nuts would suffice!

 

[darkbeaver]

RE: STORA Pulpmill in tro

Nova Scotia is full of corrupt politicians and corporate welfare bums, every corporation in the province is subsidized by the taxpayers, every year they want a sweeter deal on power rates, on taxes, on training, they get paving done, if the truth were known Nova Scotias would find out that they have been employing many corporate workers and not the actual industrys.

 

[spygirl]

Just came across this and thought I would update. Stora management and the union are going back to the negotiating table this week. There have been no talks for the past month. Last week the StoraEnso board of directors set a June 24th deadline for the company and the union to agree on a contract or the mill will be shutdown. As for government intervention or NSPower relief, it has been stated numerous times that until the labour dispute is settled they're hands are pretty much tied.