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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2018)
PAGE 10 | December 7 , 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ...Government approves merger of paper mill giants From Page 1 On Oct. 2, 2015, WestRock finalized a $288.5 million acqui- sition of SP Fiber Holdings, the company that owned the New- berg mill and a paper mill in Dublin, Georgia. Two weeks later, WestRock announced the “indefinite” closure of the New- berg mill. About 200 people, most of them AWPPW mem- bers, lost their jobs — even though the market for cardboard has been growing steadily thanks to the increase of online shopping. Pallesen had a hunch the clo- sure was intended to reduce sup- ply in the market, but had no proof. Union members and sup- porters protested the closure with pickets outside the mill, but the company didn’t budge, and the mill stayed shut. Then on Jan. 29, 2018, We- stRock announced plans to buy KapStone, which employs AW- PPW members at its paper mill in Longview, Washington. The announcement rekindled Palle- sen’s hopes for the restart of the Newberg paper mill, because the acquisition would require federal approval. A series of federal statutes known as “antitrust” laws are supposed to prevent companies from becoming mo- nopolies or otherwise manipulat- ing markets or restricting com- petition. Because of those laws, the government in the past has required merging paper compa- nies to divest some of their hold- ings to preserve competition in the marketplace. Surely they’d do that this time as well, Pallesen thought. Maybe the government would order WestRock to sell the Newberg mill to someone who’d reopen it and put AW- PPW members back to work. Or if not, at least some of Kap- Stone’s mills might be kept out of the clutches of a company with a record of closing mills. Then (he won’t say how) Pallesen came into possession of a secret company document: a Jan. 9, 2018, sales agreement be- tween WestRock and KBD En- terprises, an industrial scrap business. WestRock, having paid nearly $300 million to acquire two paper mills, now proposed to sell one of them for just $8.25 million … with some highly un- usual conditions: The buyer would have to destroy the plant’s valuable machines, and promise not to sell them intact or use them to manufacture paper. That seemed to Pallesen like “smoking gun” evidence of an intent to destroy productive ca- pacity and reduce supply in the market. He got in touch with Edgar Sargent, a Seattle com- mercial attorney who previously represented the Bakers union during the Hostess bankruptcy and successfully defended Seat- tle’s minimum wage ordinance. At AWPPW’s request, Sargent presented the leaked sales agree- ment and other evidence along- side a letter to the Antitrust Di- vision of the U.S. Department of Justice, calling on them to inves- tigate. “The union believes that this merger poses serious threats to ...OHSU union From Page 1 as post-doctoral researchers who are clas- sified by OHSU as employees. But OHSU argues he’s not an employee. “Every meeting I’ve had with the ad- ministration, they’ve tried to make that clear that we don’t deserve the same recog- nition as employees, and that we don’t de- serve the same benefits as employees, be- cause we are students and we should feel lucky to even be paid,” Meadows said. “But the reality is that we do work for them, so they should pay us, and we should have the right to negotiate for more.” Meadows was one of about 100 pro- union graduate student employees and supporters who rallied Nov. 15 on the lawn outside Mackenzie Hall. Many held signs saying “Graduate research is work” along with the logo of their union, AFSCME. Hoping to negotiate a livable wage, ad- full and fair competition in the market,” Sargent wrote in the May 8 letter. “Our general con- cern is that WestRock will use its increasing share of the cardboard and container markets to in- crease profits by artificially con- stricting production.… It is dif- ficult to imagine any justification for WestRock’s plan to destroy the Newberg mill other than an attempt to foreclose competition with WestRock’s cardboard op- erations.” In June, WestRock told the Portland Tribune newspaper the planned sale to the scrapper had fallen through. But the evidence of the sales agreement spoke for itself, and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden decided to weigh in. In a July 24 letter to the U.S. Depart- ment of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, Wyden called on them to investigate the report that WestRock had or- dered the mill equipment de- stroyed. “Such a provision, which was first identified by the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, appears on its face to be highly anticompetitive,” Wyden wrote.“By limiting the number of domestic buyers of recyclable materials, WestRock may be effectively controlling prices that curbside and sorting facilities receive for their serv- ices, and at the same time in- creasing the cost of paper for consumers.” In an Aug. 29 reply, the De- partment of Justice thanked Wyden for his interest. “The De- partment is strongly committed equate health coverage, some say over conditions, and greater protection against workplace abuses, a majority of the grad- uate student faculty signed union cards seeking to join AFSCME, and turned them into the Oregon Employment Relations Board Aug. 29. Under Oregon’s public sector “card check” law, it should have been a slam dunk — graduate student teaching and research faculty are already in recognized unions at all other major public universities in Oregon, and many of those have much lighter workloads than the OHSU grad student researchers. But OHSU is delaying union recognition with the objections it filed. “One way or another, these workers will have a union, and they will have a contract,” Oregon AFSCME exec- utive director Stacey Chamberlain told rally participants. A hearing on the objections is scheduled for Dec. 12. -Don McIntosh to protecting and promoting competition in the paper industry through enforcement of the fed- eral antitrust laws,” wrote assis- tant U.S. attorney general Stephen Boyd. WestRock declined to com- ment for this story, but has said repeatedly that it’s continually assessing what to do with the Newberg mill. “That’s a line of bullshit, in my opinion,” Pallesen told the Labor Press. “They’re a multi- billion corporation. They know exactly what they’re doing. They don’t want competition.” Pallesen said he’s heard from at least two potential buyers who’d be willing to reopen the mill, but WestRock has been un- willing to talk with them, he said. As a result, the Newberg re- cycled paper mill remains idle, all while Oregonians pay top dollar to collect recycled paper curbside — and have it sent to landfills because there’s no facil- ity to take it. WestRock picked up four more paper mills with the com- pletion of its KapStone pur- chase, including the AWPPW- represented mill in Longview. Because it’s a large enough cap- ital investment, Pallesen thinks the Longview mill is safe from closure for now. But if the com- pany’s strategy is indeed about limiting production, other mills might be at risk. “We certainly expect around 12 months from now, maybe 18 months, you’ll see mill clo- sures,” Pallesen said. ...Aramark From Page 5 keep their union, and will bargain a new contract that by agreement with Metro will have some minimum conditions: They’ll make at least as much per hour as they’re currently making; they’ll be allowed to accept tips for the first time; and they’ll get at least $100 a month to- ward health insurance. Food service workers approved the agreement over- whelmingly in votes held Oct. 28-31. Because Aramark is a large private business, workers will also be protected by Oregon’s new fair scheduling law, which requires that they be compen- sated for last-minute schedule changes. Aramark already manages conces- sions at other Metro facilities: the Ore- gon Convention Center, Expo Center, and Portland’5 Centers for the Arts. Workers at those facilities are repre- sented by UNITE HERE Local 8. MARCH TO MONOPOLY? 2011: Rock-Tenn buys Smurfit-Stone 2015: Rock-Tenn merges with MeadWestvaco to form WestRock 2015: WestRock buys SP Fiber Holdings 2016: WestRock buys Cenveo Packaging 2017: WestRock buys Silgan Holdings 2017: WestRock buys MPS 2017: WestRock buys U.S. Corrugated 2017: WestRock buys Island Container 2017: WestRock buys HannahPak 2018: WestRock buys Plymouth Packaging 2018: WestRock buys KapStone PAPER TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION Below is a list of paper mills closed since 1998, just in Oregon in Washington, and in one union (AWPPW). It doesn’t include partial closures, like the Georgia- Pacific mill in Camas Washington where all but one paper machine have been shut down. OREGON Albany (International Paper)2009 Gardiner (International Paper)2005 Newberg (WestRock) 2015 Oregon City (Blue Heron) 2011 North Bend (Weyerhaeuser)2003 WASHINGTON Bellingham (Georgia-Pacific ) 2007 Cosmopolis (Weyerhaeuser) 2006 Everett (Kimberly Clark) 2012 Hoquiam (Grays Harbor Paper) 2011 Longview (Weyerhaeuser) 2001 Steilacoom (Abitibi) 2000 As part of the contracting out settle- ment, Metro also tentatively agreed to a $15-an-hour minimum wage for all of its own union employees, retroactive to the June 30, 2018 expiration of the previous contract. It also agreed to rein in its longstanding reliance on “per- matemps.” After two years of working in positions classified as temporary, workers will no longer be considered at-will employees, and will have the right to contest unfair discipline through a grievance process and binding arbitra- tion. Other terms of that contract are still being negotiated. Going to $15 will a big raise for Zoo laborers like Nick Boehm. After 22 years cleaning restrooms, emptying trash and pressure washing Zoo grounds, Boehm earns $12.63 an hour. “The zoo runs a year-round operation on seasonal temporary labor,” said Boehm, who serves on the Local 483 bargaining team. “The new agreement makes progress toward ending that.”
