at

¢ Local 1-500 member Jim Zeigler at work coving a countertop at Hanover operation. Photo taken January 1990.

Free trade takes toll on Hanover Kitchens
plant as workforce shrinks to less than 50

Shortly after the Canada-U.S. Free
Trade Agreement went into effect a
number of Canadian plants in the
home furnishing industry went out of
business as tariffs were quickly re-
moved on goods of U.S. origin. The
competition from large efficient
American operations which pay their
workers peanuts ensured that the

Canadian furniture would be clob-
bered as it never had been before.
Management at the Hanover
Kitchens custom kitchen cabinet plant
in Hanover Ontario thought back then
that they would escape the same kind
of wrath that had hit the furniture in-
dustry. It thought that its age-old and
well respected name would keep it

ahead of U.S. competitors.

That has not happened and things
at the plant, which only four years ago
employed over 150 workers, are not
looking too good. Today the company
only employs 46 workers, who are
members of IWA-CANADA Local 1-
500. The plant runs 3 or 4 days a week
on one shift only.

Last year it lost one of its largest
steady customers when Beaver Lum-
ber was taken over by the the Molson
Brewing corporation. Then the orders
dropped off.

“We just can’t believe what has hap-
pened,” says Irvin Baetz, financial sec-
retary of the local union and himself
an employee with 30 years seniority at
the operation. “The loss of the con-
tract supplying Beaver Lumber has
only added to our difficulties.”

The local union also suffered a ma-
jor setback when the former
Sklar-Pepplar furniture plant went
into bankruptcy and receivership late
last year in the community of
Hanover. After several attempts at try-
ing to save the plant, including efforts
assisted by the Ontario government,
that plant is gone for good.

Right now there is a lot of specula-
tion as to what will happen at the
Hanover Kitchens operation. The union
will soon be sitting down with the com-
pany to negotiate a new contract. One
of the demands that it will be present-
ing will be a shorter work week.

Right now the most junior employ-
ee has over 20 years seniority.

“That's always been unheard of in
the cabinet and furniture industry,”
says Brother Baetz. “There have been
radical changes that have hit us to
change all that.”

Fortunately the company decided
to get into the production of Euro-
pean Kitchens before 1990 and the big
recession hit. It is almost completely
out of the wood frame cabinet line
which had been its mainstay.

“If we were still in full wood frame
cabinets we could not operate with so
few people,” says Baetz. “The Euro-
pean Kitchens, which have plasticized
components, are the only things that
are keeping us going now.”

Most of those kitchen cabinets are
sold in Canada.

“There are still people that are loyal
to buying Canadian products and
there are those who have always
stuck with the Hanover name,” adds
Brother Baetz.

Hanover Kitchens is still able to de-
liver on quality and has a well-earned
reputation for service, which is some-
thing that the large U.S. based kitchen
cabinets mills can not match.

MB Nipigon
Continued from page eleven

operation that you will find.

Much of the poplar plywood pro-
duction as core stock for hardwood
flooring as a 3/8” underlay. MacBlo

ships loads of the poplar down to Ten-
nessee where it is laid up with a ve-
neer of southern yellow pine on the
bottom and a hardwood veneer on the
top (i.e. oak, ash, maple).

Like the markets for the core stock
and underlay, the company ships
about 65% of its production to the
United States. Occasionally the mill
will go into straight sheathing produc-

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Local 1-2693 business agent John Lorenowich (I.) and MB's Production

Superintendent Tim Meservia display panel of artificial “glice” skating

surface.

tion if it has too many “C” grade cores
or back grade panels and not enough
face grade veneers to match them.
However it is not able to compete
with larger scale commodity mills that
specialize in sheathing.

Local 1-2693 first vice-president
John Lorenowich, who services the
operation says the plant has been able
to survive because it has been able to
adapt to changing markets. He also
says that workers have helped out a
great deal in making viable what
would otherwise be a marginal opera-
tion. Fortunately now markets are
strong for the mills production and
should remain so for the foreseeable
future.

One area of value-added specializa-
tion for the plant in the production of
hockey stick shafts. In fact Mr.
Meservia says the operation, which
produces over 3 million shafts each
year, is the largest producer in North
America and a leader in the world.

The sticks take up about 10% of the
plant’s capacity but provide over 15%
of the its economic production.
MacBlo sells them to such producers
as Cooper, Titan, Sherwood, Victori-
aville, and Christian Brothers.

The shafts are made of high quality
poplar (about 90%) along with a 10%
birch contact to give them additional
strength and stiffness. The plywood
used are the clear grade veneers
which have the most strength.

There are twelve different configu-
rations of sticks produced. The poplar
and birch sheets are 1 1/2” inches
thick and 61” long. After being layed-
up, pressed, and cooled, the hockey
stick shafts are ripped six at a time.

Research has been done in the plant
on new products for the sporting
goods market. During the last couple
of years the mill has produced a

goalie stick shaft called the “Curtis
Curve” which is a shaft with a curve
put in it. When the goalie drops his
stick he can easily pick the stick up,
even with a goalie mitt.

Another unique product that origi-
nates for the Nipigon operation is arti-
ficial skating rink ice or “Glice” as it is
named. About 6 years ago the plant
came out with a specially formulated
plastic surface which you can skate
on with a regular ice skate. It can be
used the same way regular ice is used
although it is about 10% harder to
skate on.

The mill produces a solid birch un-
derlay which is bonded to the artifi-
cial ice surface on both sides. The
plastic surface is made from pellets
that come from Germany and are ex-
truded in Quebec.

The sheets measure 2’ by 4’ with a
total thickness of 1 3/8”. So far the
Glice has been a little slow in catching
on. In Ironbridge Ontario near Sault
Ste. Marie, there is a public rink made
entirely of glice. The company has
sent samples to Disneyworld and be-
lieves the market will increase as the
product becomes more well known.

Brother Lorenowich says that the
mill has an incredible adaptability and
is always looking for new products to
keep it in business. The innovations
that have come out of the plant have
been possible because of MacBlo’s
hands-off approach to the operation.
Hopefully that will continue.

Currently the Nipigon mill is look-
ing at producing a composite “float-
ing” floor that is suitable for
gymnasiums.

“When times are tough (in ply-
wood) we try to get into those high
value niche markets,” says Mr.
Meservia. “A lot of producers don’t
want to do it.”

12/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1994