About 21/2 years ago, Georgia-Pacific took over operation of the Fort James paper mill in Old Town. This past January, the mill manager held a series of “State of the Business” meetings, at which he told employees how the mill was performing. We were told the Old Town mill had generated net profits of $14 million in 2000, $44 million in 2001 and about $50 million was expected for 2002. We took this to be a very good reflection on our hard work, management and labor.

Since G-P took over, we have dramatically improved our safety record and improved the quality of the finished product. We have lowered environmental emissions and reduced energy consumption, for which we recently received an award from the state.

We have implemented a potential of $17 million in cost-saving measures during the past two years and have met or exceeded all of our business goals. The employees of Old Town should feel proud to know all of their hard work has made their small mill a safe, clean and very profitable entity within such a large corporation.

Now the bad news. For all their hard work, G-P’s employees in Old Town have been rewarded by entering October without a labor contract. Negotiations still continue and updates from our negotiating committee are dismal. G-P is looking for wage concessions of about 8.5 percent and benefit concessions of two percent for the first year alone. This from a very profitable mill that got there from the sweat of their employees, expecting even larger profits in the future.

One of G-P’s corporate core values is to “treat people with dignity and respect.” Is it me, or do I smell hypocrisy here? Is asking for wage cuts during times of high profits and higher expectations “treating people with dignity and respect”? Is lowering the standard of living of 500 families, while the CEO of G-P is compensated to the tune of $4.2 million in 2001, “treating people with dignity and respect”? Is there no end to G-P’s greed? This will continue until people say, “enough.”

Phillip Reed is a resident of Bangor.