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Management Side
Pulp and paper unions, Nippon Dynawave to start contract negotiations

LONGVIEW, Washington (From news reports) -- Two pulp and paper union locals representing nearly 300 workers will begin contract negotiations next week with Nippon Dynawave, and the talks may be thorny.

The negotiations begin Monday, about four months after a long and tense round of bargaining between the company and its Longview extruder employees. Jim Anderson, bargaining representative for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, said there is a lot of fear this may be a much harder bargain than usual.

Company officials Tuesday declined to comment on Nippon Dynawave's expectations for negotiations.

Nonetheless, the union will enter negotiations in good faith because "when we are at the table, we are there to come to an agreement," Anderson said this week. And no bargain is ever easy these days, he added.

"Negotiations are always contentious. The company is trying to get by as economically as they can," and labor costs are one of few line items a business can directly control. "And we are always trying to make sure our members don't fall behind in terms of a contract."

The contracts up for negotiation cover 290 hourly employees at the mill, including about 100 workers represented by AWPPW Local 633 and about 200 workers represented by AWPPW Local 580. It is the first time these workers have had to bargain with Nippon, the firm that bought the Longview mill from Weyerhaeuser Co. for $285 million in 2016.

About 65 extruder employees are represented by Local 633 under a third contract with the company. Those employees ratified a contract in October with 57% approval.

AWPPW officials will negotiate both of the non-extruder contracts at the same time, and the main body of the agreement will use "mirrored language," Anderson said. However, each local can negotiate its own "local ground rules," he said.

Nippon Dynawave spokesman Brian Wood declined to comment Tuesday on the company's key points for negotiations.

"We negotiate at the table with the union, and we prefer to do all our negotiating there," Wood said.

Anderson said he expects a normal negotiation over points such as wages, healthcare benefits and workplace safety improvements. He did not share specific details on how much the union might ask for on wage and benefits.

"What you are looking for is a good balance where your members are getting ahead as opposed to falling behind. You can get stuff in a wage line, and then (the company) can take it all back in healthcare. ... We are just trying to get a fair package, and how that may look varies from place to place," Anderson said.

The union may also address a wage disparity among maintenance workers, though Anderson did not provide more specific details.

The mill produces about 330,000 tons of paperboard annually. It is one of two U.S. offices owned by the Nippon Dynawave's parent company, Japan-based Nippon Paper Group.

The company's first contract negotiation with AWPPW started March 2019, when the extruders' agreement neared expiration. That negotiation focused largely on the union's "quality of workplace" concerns, including the addition of transfer rights and the exclusion of a "flow to work" measure proposed by the company.

Seven months of tense negotiations included a unanimous strike authorization vote and two rounds of mediated bargaining before the sides agreed on a contract. While it did not address the union's request for transfer rights, the contract excluded the company's flow to work measure.

The contract also included a 15% pay raise over its six-year term, including a 2% boost for 2019.

Anderson said some extruder workers have since filed complaints that the company is straying from contract language. The company also tried to get the union "back at the table" to talk about flow to work again, Anderson said.

"That is pause for thought, anyway (for upcoming negotiations). It's hard when it feels like the trust is broken," Anderson said.

However, the non-extruder workers aren't expected to focus on the same quality of workplace measures discussed in the extruders' contract, Anderson said. And the earlier negotiation could serve as a "springboard" for some bargaining points on behalf of the other employees as they bargain with Nippon Dynawave officials for the first time.

"The hope is that, after we just came off our initial bargaining with Nippon, they will have a better understanding ... of our issues already."


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