Sappi millworkers to vote on strike

SKOWHEGAN – Workers at Sappi Fine Paper North America’s four mills, including two in Maine, will hold a strike authorization vote Monday in hopes of speeding contract talks.

If workers authorize a strike, it doesn’t mean a walkout is imminent, union officials said. But it could move along negotiations for a new contract, they said.

The six-year contract at the Sappi Somerset mill in Skowhegan expired Feb. 1, 2003, and employees continue to work under the previous contract, said Rod Hiltz, president of USW Local 4-9 that represents about 500 workers at the mill.

“We’ve been trying to reach an agreement with this company for 31/2 years,” Hiltz said. “Our goal is to motivate Sappi to treat its workers with the respect that we deserve and to complete these negotiations with an agreement.”

The Maine mills involved in the vote are in Skowhegan and Westbrook. Mills in Muskegon, Mich., and Cloquet, Minn., also will participate, according to union officials.

Contracts have expired at all of the mills, but not at the same time. Union officials wouldn’t say what the sticking points are in the negotiations.

Jeffrey Pina, Sappi’s spokesman, said the company has been doing its part to complete contract negotiations.

The company in March presented the union at the Skowhegan mill with a final economic proposal, and on June 1 fulfilled a final package commitment to consider certain health care plans.

“We are very disappointed with the steelworkers calling for a strike authorization vote before Somerset mill employees have been allowed an opportunity to vote on their final package,” Pina said.

The mill in Skowhegan employs about 900 people, while the one in Westbrook has about 340 workers, according to Sappi.