Closure faces workers
at foam container plant

In the past few years there’s been
a lot of bad news for IWA-CANADA
members who have lost their jobs in
the forest industry. Our member-
ship in other non-forest related
industries as well have been hit in
the economic slowdown.

The latest group of workers to be
affected by closures are 30 IWA
Local 1-324 members at the Fripp
Fibre Form plastic food container
plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Since March 9, 18 remaining pro-
duction workers at the plant, which
Brecialized in the manufacturing of
plastic foam egg trays, were laid off
and told they would be recalled in
early September.

But since that time Fripp has
be; to disassemble its machinery
and has cpu the 70,000-square-foot

ant and neighbouring property up

for sale.

A year ago the plant, which began
production in 1988, employed up to
30 IWA members. Before that time
the plastic egg tray market had the
starch knocked out of it by loss of
markets,

The public’s growing concern over
foam packaging products ruined the
market for Fripp’s products even
though the company used environ-
mentally aendly materials which
do not contain the ozone damaging
chlorinated fluorocarbons.

When the plant was first orga-
nized by IWA-CANADA things
seemed on the upswing.

“It looked like a good plant to

organize,” says the Manitoba Local
1-324 president Jim Anderson. “It
was a plant which was eupnosed to
grow to employ 100 peop.
production.”

le in full

However, long before that could
happen, the public’s perception that
all plastic egg trays were environ-
pentally damaging killed the mar-

et.

Even though the foam egg trays
can be easily recycled without harm
to the environment, the public
refuses to accept the products. Such
major supermarket chains as
Safeway and Supervalu refuse to
carry the products.

Recycled paper trays dominate
the market. Fripp has a recycled
paper tray plant in Tisdale, Sas-
katchewan which fills the market.
It is certified to IWA-CANADA Local
1-184. (See story this page)

Fripp’s other North American
production facilities are in’ Troy
(Ohio), Memphis (Tennessee), and
Fullerton (California). These plants
make a variety of paper and foam
packaging products.

Even though the company has
told the employees there will be a
recall, nobody believes it. The
plant’s foam extruder, thermo for-
mer and printer unit are all up for
purchase.

The workers who will lose their
jobs for good are entitled to sever-
ance pay under the collective agree-
ment for either partial or full plant
closure. Fripp has said that, in any
event, it hopes to keep a warehouse
facility open in the Winnipeg area.

Brother Anderson says he hopes
Fripp will co-operate in paying out
the severance agreement.

“We expect commitments to be
lived up to and hope we can do so

without any disagreements,” says
Anderson.

® Work has been steady for Local 1-184 member David Brown and other work-

ers at the Tisdale operation.

Recycled egg tray plant

going ahead full steam

TISDALE, SASKATCHEWAN —
Where Fripp Fibre Form Inc.’s plas-
tic foam egg carton tray plant in
Winnipeg is closing (see story this
page), production at its recycled
_ pulp egg tray plant here is going
7 full steam ahead. Fripp operates its
it 362 days a year, 24 hours a
as markets Br eecveled paper
products are steady and increasing.
IWA-CANADA Local 1-184 repre-
sents 20 een 12 aa
_ workers at the plant, which pro-
_ vides some cpt best paying jobs in

the area. The population of Tisdale
is approximately 3,200, situated
about 150 miles west of Saskatoon.
Fripp uses recycled Paper, recy-
cled cardboard, and recycled water
in the manufacturing process. It
also adds a chemical polymer to
bond shorter fibres, and uses a
defoaming agent which is necess
as the recycled papers and card-
board are beat into a pulp.
Each week the plant consumes

Continued on page twelve

¢ The plant’s production facility has ceased operations and stock piles of the

foam product have yet to be sold.

Local demands

Contined from page three

The brief criticized government
bureaucrats for delaying in getting
a blueprint for forestry manage-
ment into place.

States the brief: “We challenge
you, the government, to appoint a
person whose main mandate is to
find a solution to the east (Hudson
Bay) side forestry problems. A per-
son who answers directly to the
Ministry of Natural Resources, is
knowledgeable about the forestry
situation on the east side and can
be accepted and trusted by the com-
munity of Hudson Bay to represent
its best interests.”

Local 1-184 has reminded the
government that MB’s Aspenite
Division has a limited lifespan
because of its old technology and
that MacBlo’s FMLA expires at the
end of 1994.

Saskatchewan Forest Product’s
plywood mill in Hudson Bay has a
limited lifespan and will face clo-
sure when the softwood supply is
used up. Meanwhile SaskFor’s
Carrot River mill faces a timber
crunch. Both SaskFor operations
don’t have a long term FMLA and
operate year to year by timber per-
mit. “

Meanwhile the government is
allowing the export of saw timber
from the prairies and is allotting
softwood timber quotas to 28 inde-
pendent operators on a resource

asis that is in short supply.

The union also points out that
Cumberland House Community is
attempting to take central of the
Cumberland Wood Supply Block
and that non-status Metis are try-
ing to take over two townships of
forest on MB’s FMLA; which would
have a major effect on future log-
ging plans.

In a constructive manoeuvre the
IWA suggests the following recom-
mendations:

°Maintenance and upgrading of
MB’s Aspenite Mill with a secure
timber supply.

eIncrease SaskFor mills’ wood
utilization.

eIntegrated logging exchanges of
hardwood/softwood between MB
and SaskFor.

Tree length logging to improve
sorting of peelers and sawlog recov-
ery.
°Utilization of hardwood peelers
in SaskFor plywood mill.

°Halt the export of sawlogs from
province.

°Establish a co-generation plant
in Hudson Bay to used wood waste
by products from major mills.

In addition the IWA suggests that
there be no long term agreements
with small operators that will lock
up the last major blocks of softwood
timber. The local suggest that an
upper limit be set for quotas to
small operators.

Softwoods from the Cumberland
Wood Supply area and Weyer-
haeuser Suggi Reserve should be
made available to SaskFor opera-
tions. Weyerhaeuser should also be
compelled by the government to
harvest more pulp wood from the
east side. Current quotas on how
much pulp they accept from the
east side results in wood waste in
the bush.

With regards to non-status Metis
land claims, the local suggest that
in the event that they are recog-
nized, the government give them
vacant crown land outside the
provincial forest.

Overall the local union is frus-
trated by government’s lack of ini-
tiative in dealing with the problems
of Hudson Bay. The brief criticizes
the inaction of “a handful of to;
level bureaucrats working jaaberel
the scenes, following their own
agendas set out by the previous gov-
ernment to continue to undermine
potential common sense forest
industry development for Hudson
Bay.”

LUMBERWORKER/AUGUST, 1992/11