Officials show solidarity with IP workers

OLD TOWN – Politicians and union leaders met Friday morning in a show of support and solidarity for workers at sawmills owned by International Paper. The company announced it would close its Passadumkeag and Costigan facilities in April, leaving 260 employees out of work.

U.S. Rep. John Baldacci and state Senate President Michael Michaud, D-Millinocket, assured union representatives that efforts to pressure IP to sell the mills would continue.

“We’re in this together,” said Baldacci. “We’re prepared to do whatever it takes to put people back to work in Costigan and Passadumkeag. It’s unacceptable not to reuse the facility or to let it sit idle.”

Duane Lugdon, an official of the Paper, Allied Chemical and Energy Workers International Union representing workers at the Passadumkeag facility, said workers are looking into the possibility of a worker buyout. He added that three companies also have expressed an interest in possibly buying the mills.

IP officials said last week they would not sell the facilities to competitors. Gov. Angus King announced Friday the company would be willing to entertain an employee buyout.

Michaud said Friday that while workers consider their options for retraining at workshops scheduled for next week by the Department of Labor, his office would research whether the facilities can be taken by eminent domain by the state or local municipalities.

“Traditionally, land has been taken for public parks, roads or given over to utilities,” said Phillip Merrill, legal counsel to the Senate president. “The constitution states land must be taken for a public purpose and the owners must be given just compensation. Taking land by eminent domain so it can be turned over to a private developer has been ruled constitutional.”

Vance Merritt, town manager of Milford, in which the village of Costigan is located, said the idea was “nothing we’d be pursuing at this time. I’m not sure we’d have sufficient provocation to take the land unless we knew the details of an outstanding offer that would improve the property. So far, we don’t have that proof.”

Earlier this week, union officials said the settlement IP was offering workers broke state laws. David Lowell of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents workers in Costigan, said Friday that IP officials “had moved a long way” from their original offer.

Lugdon and Lowell agreed that the company’s latest offers comply with state and federal law. Costigan workers are scheduled to vote on the contract Sunday morning. Representatives from the Passadumkeag mill are scheduled to meet again with IP officials Tuesday morning.