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.”