The rising cost of living caused by inflation has led one of the unions at the Woodland Pulp mill in Baileyville to consider calling a strike by the end of this month, if a new contract with higher wages is not agreed to by the company. The latest contract expired in August, and for the past few months union members have been working under an automatic contract extension.
      Of the contract negotiations, Mike Higgins, staff representative for the United Steelworkers (USW) union, says, "What the company has offered in previous years would be considered a fair offer. But in these economic times, seeing inflation affecting the cost of living, it's not where it needs to be. The workers deserve more to stay up with the cost of living. They need to adjust prices for inflation. That's what this is all about. It's a highly skilled workforce that has sacrificed family time to work on holidays and weekends. They worked through the pandemic, as they're considered essential workers."
      To call attention to their demands, members of USW Local 27 projected the union's "Bat Light" on the side of the mill's administration building with the message "Fair Contract Now" on November 17 and 18. Union members are scheduled to take a vote on whether to strike or accept the company's final offer after their bargaining session with the company on November 28.
      The Bat Light is a call to action "to show we're all in solidarity, and to show the members and the communities what's going on," Higgins says. "Whenever there was trouble in Gotham City, they would project the Bat Light on a building to summon Batman. The USW Bat Light signals that workers are ready to strike if their employer refuses to bargain a fair contract and that the 1.2 million members of the United Steelworkers have their backs."
      Concerning the ongoing negotiations, mill spokesman Scott Beal says, "We're looking forward to meeting with the union officials the week after next. Woodland Pulp remains optimistic that we can work with the committee to collectively bring these negotiations to an equitable and logical conclusion."
      According to Higgins, about 125 workers belong to Local 27 at Woodland Pulp, which is owned by International Grand Investment Corp. (IGIC), a U.S.-based company for a Chinese investment firm. IGIC-owned companies employ a total of 470 workers in Baileyville, with 340 at Woodland Pulp, 90 at St. Croix Tissue and 40 at St. Croix Chipping, the former Fulghum Fibres operation that supplies the wood chips for Woodland Pulp. Higgins says that if the mill is shut down by a strike, both St. Croix Tissue and St. Croix Chipping would also be affected, as the mill supplies the pulp for the tissue machines. According to Higgins, IGIC has "committed to serious investments in the future, and we also don't want to fall behind. But they need to invest in their people as well."
      Higgins says that through surveys and meetings the union workers "have given a clear direction of what they want, and we've relayed that to the company." On November 28, "we intend to put forth a strike or accept vote to our members. We've brought a mediator in to help out. The company needs to know we're serious." Higgins believes that the union and the company are "very far apart" in their negotiations.
      Last spring, the United Steelworkers had threatened a strike at the Sappi paper mill in Skowhegan, before union workers and the company agreed upon a contract with a 3% wage increase each year for three years. Higgins says, "In the end they got a contract. We hope that will happen here, too. We'll consider any offer they give us."
      He adds, "People are struggling everywhere to make ends meet. A lot of folks are leveraging their labor unions to get the best pay they can to keep up."