Workers at Tembec’s Kapuskasing operations
look to improve their EFAP for the community

Since the shake up and near closure
of the former Spruce Falls Power and
Paper Company’s pulp mill in
Kapuskasing, Ontario in 1991, many
community members have seen hard
times and re-adjustments to their
lifestyles. e

To help deal with the numerous
personal and social problems that
have arisen, IWA-CANADA Local 1-
2995 is working with other unions and
Tembec Inc., Spruce Fall’s successor,
to make the local Employee and Fami-
ly Assistance program more effective.

In December of 1992 IWA National
Ist Vice-President Neil Menard visited
the local union upon invitation of
Local 1-2995’s Executive Board.
Brother Menard, who is the IWA’s
national officer responsible for
EFAP’s, went to Kapuskasing to check
out the EFAP. 4

There is an EFAP committee in the
mill and the woodlands and services
are provided by the Hearst/Kapuskas-
ing and Smooth Rock Falls Coun-
selling Services.

Local 1-2995 first got involved in the
Employee and Family Assistance Pro-
gram in 1980. Along with the IWA, the
other unions involved are the Chemi-
cal Energy and Paperworkers Union
(formerly CPU), the IBEW and the
OPEIU.

In addition Local 1-2995 president
Norm Rivard-called in Brother
Menard and Jim Stimson, an EFAP
specialist with MacMillan Bloedel, to
train local EFAP committee members.

On the 14 member EFAP committee,
the IWA has two representatives,
Lorne Stenabaugh and Laurent
Dubosq who work in the Woodlands

The IWA is working
with other unions to
make the EFAP more

efficient and effec-

tive in the northern

Ontario community

Division where the union is certified
to about 150 members.

By receiving the EFAP committee
training, the workers gained a greater
insight into how the EFAP can work
more effectively.

“They basically wanted to look at
what they are doing and make it bet-
ter,” says Brother Menard. “So far the
members and the employer have
worked together fairly well to try and
meet the needs of workers and their
families who have been displaced or
affected by the changes in the area.”

In early 1991 Spruce Falls Power
and Paper threatened the community
of Kapuskasing with a downsizing of
its 1,200 worker, pulp and newsprint
operation (then owned by Kimberley
Clark Corp. and the New York Times)
to 250 workers unless the community,
and the Ontario government would
help it divest its interests in the pulp
and paper mill and power dam.

After several intense months of
negotiations between Spruce Falls,
the Ontario government, union work-
ers and the community of Kapuskas-
ing, a deal was struck to save the mill
and jobs in the Woodlands Division.

In a new arrangement employees
and citizens of Kapuskasing paid an
initial $12.5 million for 60% of the new
entity while Tembec took the remain-
ing 40%.

In between the time that Spruce
Falls began to threaten the mill down-
sizing and the present restructuring
arrangement, there have been social

e In December of 1992 the IWA’s National First Vice-President Neil Menard (fifth from right) visited Kapuskasing to
investigate the EFAP program. Among those also present were Local 1-2995 executive board members (I-r) Sid Adams,
Real Vachon, Marcel Lacroix, Damien Roy, and Etienne Gagnon.

casualties along the way.

Although the community of
Kapuskasing pulled together to save
the mill and the local economic base,
it hasn't been all clear sailing.

“In 1991 there was an unbelievable
amount of pressure on workers,” says
Brother Rivard. “There were a helluva
lot of arguments on how and what
should be done to save the town.”

“For a year there was constant talk
about the mill in town, you heard it
everywhere you went,” adds Rivard.
“The whole community was really in a
pressure cooker.”

The usual array of social problems
came up as a result; booze, personal
conflicts, separations, family troubles,
etc.

Workers and their families who
once believed that they had long-term
security were faced with the
prospects of losing that security. The
resulting effect on moreale was devas-
tating. Social problems began to rise
in Kapuskasing in a way and in a num-
ber that hasn’t been seen before.

After the dust settled the respective
unions are looking to get their EFAP
program up and running to be even
more effective.

So when EFAP committee members
received some training on how the
program runs and how to create
awareness, the program likely took a
step forward.

EFAP committee members have a
special function in that their main job
is to create awareness of services
under the program. Committee mem-
bers spread awareness to both man-
agement and union employees who
are all eligible to use the program.

Since 1980 a committee has been in
place to oversee the program in the
pulp mill and woodlands division
where members can go to seek initial
counselling and then go out to the
appropriate resources in the commu-
nity.

At times the program has worked
well, and at other times it’s been hit
and miss.

The buy-out of Spruce Falls result-
ed in layoffs and early retirement for
about 300 workers. Obviously some
workers felt they were pushed to take
early retirement when they might
have kept on working.

“We've been seeing some problems

with senior people who have had a lot
of time on their hands,” adds Brother
Rivard. “Some of those former
employees and their families may
need assistance in the future and it’s a
good idea to get the EFAP set up bet-
ter to handle it.”

At issue is how the EFAP can best
work. Most EFAP’s that the IWA is
involved with are integrated into
Assessment and Referral Services
(ARS) centres where people can con-
tact an EFAP counsellor and have
their problems analyzed. After visiting
the ARS, then the client may be
referred to an agency in or outside the
community for assistance if neces-
sary.

Across Canada the IWA is involved
in 17 ARS’s involving more than 200
workplaces and 250,000 people in 100
local union affiliations of various
unions.

Brother Menard says that if the
workers, Tembec, and other employ-
ees are looking for the EFAP/ARS
option, then there is a sufficient base
in the Kapuskasing community to be
built on. So he doesn’t see a big prob-
lem in getting it all off the ground.

He also says the workers and their
employer should be the catalyst to
take the joint management labour
EFAP/ARS program into the communi-
ty to gain support from other employ-
ers and workers.

“They would have to change the
system, they have to spend a little bit
of money, but in the long run it will be
cheaper than what they are spending
now,” says Brother Menard.

“There’s a large enough employee
base to more than support a commu-
nity based ARS,” he says. “With that
good ground to build on, more knowl-
edge, more awareness and more edu-
cation is all they need.”

The financing of a local ARS could
be set up on a “global funding” basis
for each operation that participates.

Brother Menard says the current
EFAP program is good and that if they
change to the ARS model it will
become more effective.

“I believe that we can convince
them that they all can get better
results for their efforts and more bang
for their buck,” adds Menard.

As this issue goes to press there are
over 1,000 workers employed by Tem-

bec in the Kapuskasing bush and mill
operations (construction included).

The plant is undergoing moderniza-
tion changes to introduce thermome-
chanical pulp production, and there
will be further job losses down the
line. In the meantime the workforce
has been pared down because of
internal restructuring. For example
some workers are now doing addi-
tional combination jobs.

These trends will continue to push
people into early retirement or onto
unemployment insurance.

Macmillan Bloedel’s Jim Stimson
says that ARS’s across Canada are
seeing more cases where people, of
who aren't retirement age, are finding
themselves in retirement not having
planned for it.

He also says that an EFAP/ARS set
up could do well in the community.
He says there must be community
commitment to do so.

There are EFAP’s and ARS's in other
Tembec operations where the IWA
holds certification. There is a Nippiss-
ing District Assessment Referral Ser-
vice where IWA Local 1-1000 members
and their families from Tembec mills
in Mattawa, Huntsville, and Alban can
go:

Mr. Stimson, who was in Kapuskas-
ing with Brother Menard to give EFAP
committee training, says that the
training sessions showed the people
involved that there are ways to make
EFAP’s more effective by making the
program a community program rather
than a company program.

He says that “clearly the unions are
committed to a better and broader
program.”

“I hope that the managers at the
mill along with union groups are able
to have a vision for a program that
will work effectively to increase quali-
ty of life and health for families and
the community,” says Mr. Stimson.

This will require an increased com-
mitment in terms of human and finan-
cial resources.

Rolly Cloutier, chairman of the
EFAP and a member of the OPEIU
Local 166 is very pleased with the visit
and input provided by Menard and
Stimson. All the feedback received so
far pertaining to the visit has been
very positive.

eel

14/LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1993