It is understandable that northern Maine loggers and officials from the Irving company, the state’s largest landowner, are growing increasingly frustrated over their stalled contract negotiations and the resulting work stoppage, which has lasted more than a week. This, however, is a complex problem with no easy solutions as both loggers and timber companies find themselves suffering the consequences of global competition and American consumers’ demand for cheap products.

The earnings of Maine’s loggers are pitifully low. The Department of Labor reported that loggers earned an average of $27,574 in 2002. They earn these low wages while working up to 16 hours a day and many own more than half a million dollars worth of forestry equipment. No wonder current workers are frustrated and few young people are choosing to work in the woods.

In the current battle, the question becomes whether Irving is paying its loggers too little, thus spawning the company’s second work stoppage in three years. No other landowner is the target of worker ire as much as Irving, a Canadian-based company that owns more than 1 million acres in Maine. While the rates companies pay their contractors are confidential, an informal investigation by the state has found that such rates are higher in other parts of the state.

Irving has offered to raise its logging and trucking rates, but by much less than the newly formed International Loggers Association has said its members want. If Irving were to raise its rates, that money would come either from profits or from somewhere down the line. However, if Irving raises the costs of its pulp or lumber, those who buy the company’s products, either raw or processed, are likely to look elsewhere for a less expensive product. That could mean Irving sells less and, therefore, needs less wood cut from the Maine woods.

The problem, according to forest economist Lloyd Irland, is that given the choice, no one ever opts for the more expensive 2-by-4. For example, when someone decides to build a house, they often solicit bids from various contractors with the one who submits the lowest bid usually getting the job. This encourages large lumber sellers to keep their prices low to earn the business of contractors, meaning they too must find the least expensive source for wood.

While the Irving situation presents an immediate problem, it highlights issues that are sure to linger. Many of these issues will be taken up by the Advisory Council on the Sustainability of Maine’s Forest Products Industry announced last week by Gov. John Baldacci. The committee is likely too late to solve the northern Maine work stoppage, but it can develop long-term solutions to help avoid, or at least minimize the consequences of, future conflicts.

One large issue is the size and age of the logger work force. It is worrisome, for instance, to conservation commissioner Pat McGowan that nearly all the loggers he met while observing the strike are in their 50s. Just as the state does not want even-aged stands of trees that will all leave the forest at once, it needs a multi-age forestry workforce so that not all the loggers leave the industry at once.

A key issue for the advisory council will be to find ways to ensure that in 10, 20 or 30 years Maine has a sufficient, adequately paid supply of loggers and truckers. That will require action now to make these industries attractive to teen-agers and young adults, who may be looking at the current situation and having serious second thoughts.