MacMillan Bathurst corrugated plant survives free
trade fears with recession proof domestic markets

© Local 1000 member Earl Chaput, plant chairman and a former local union financial secretary, measures up a die for

corrugated box.

n I.W.A. CANADA Local 1000,
one of the few industries that
has not been hit by downturns
in the Canadian economy over
the past 5-6 years has been the
manufacture of corrugated con-
tainers. In the community of Pem-
broke, about a 1-1/2 hour drive north
of Ottawa, work at the MacMillan
Bathurst Inc. (MBI) corrugated con-
tainer plant has been steady and re-
cession proof,

Despite technological upgrading the
plant has maintained employment lev-
els of between 130-135 union mem-
bers since 1990. The plant operates on
a2 and 3 shift basis, five days a week.
It all depends on what machines are
needed to keep up with the orders.

“Work up here has been good for

just about everybody,” says Earl Cha-
put, plant chairman and a former local
Financial Secretary. “Most of our
members work year round and some
have only been laid off 2-3 weeks dur-
ing the past couple of years.”
The Pembroke operation is one of
12 MBI plants across the country. It is
a plant that specializes in small spe-
cialty orders and has a reputation of
high quality production while meeting
tight deadlines.

Brother Chaput says that workers
were worried when the Free Trade
Agreement between Canada and the
United States went into effect in early
1989. They thought the competition
from low wage operators in the Unit-
ed States would put pressure on Cana-
dian jobs.

Some of the work has shifted south
of the line, says Chaput. But not
enough to cause a downturn in hours
worked.

The Pembroke operation used to
roduce containers for numerous

‘kk and Decker products including
lawn movers. Now it gets very few or-
ders from that client as most of Black
and Decker’s production has moved
to the United States or Mexico.

Likewise, the plant used to produce
containers for such Japanese parent

increases at the MBI St. Laurent plant
in Montreal.

“If we had the Molson contract at
this plant, we would be operating 24
hours a day, 7 days a week,” says Cha-
put.

One of the more important develop-
ments in recent years has been the
plant’s compliance with new regula-
tions in accordance with hygienic
standards set by the American Insti-
tute of Bakeries (AJB).

In the summer of 1995 the plant
passed an AIB examination which
Saw an increase in preventative hy-
gienic measures put into place for the
production of food containers - which
constitute much of MBI's business.

New measures taken include the
control of rodents by the placement of
an 18” perimeter around the inside of
the plant floor. Blue lights have been
put into place to prevent attraction of
mosquitoes, screens have been put on
all doors and all entrances must be
closed to provide additional insulation
against insects and rodents.

The new standards have helped the
plant secure new business. In addi-
tion, MBI has adopted ISO 9000 stan-
dards, which are internationally rec-
ognized measures to ensure quality
control and the elimination of errors
during the production process.

ISO 9000 is a series of recognized
standards adopted by the European
Economic Community that ensure

that the operation is professionally
evaluated. MBI is using the system in
all of its plants in Canada. By June of
1992, all plants had adopted to the ISO
9000 system for its production. The
company has other plants in Ontario
(Etobicoke, Guelph, Rexdale, and
Whitby), Manitoba (Winnipeg), Alber-
ta (Edmonton and Calgary), B.C.
(New Westminster), Saskatchewan
(Regina), and Quebec (St. Laurent and
Mt. Royal). The company has now met
the ISO 9001 at all of its operations.

Apart from ISO 9000, the company
has introduced some new technologi-
cal changes which have improved pro-
duction while not having an overall
impact on the number of jobs.

About two years ago the die designs
began to be sent in on computer disc
to Image Pack, a Montreal subsidiary
of MBI. There the dies are made with
a new formula polymer that lasts
longer.

A new flexo rotary die-cutter was
put in the plant almost two years ago
which doubled the production capaci-
ty in that department. The machine
die-cuts and scores corrugated sheets.
It requires an operator, a feeder and
one or two offbearers, depending on
the product line.

The workers are currently in the
second year of a five year collective
agreement, which has become the
standard for the industry in central
Canada.

“We would have preferred a three
year deal but it wasn’t in the cards,”
says Brother Chaput. The workers got
wage increases of 0, 1, 1-1/2, 2 and 3
percent with cash bonuses of $400
and $300 in the first. and second years.

Top pay rate is currently over
$20/hr. for electricians. The base rate
for labourers is $16.28/hr.

Local 1000 Financial Secretary and
Business Agent Mike McCarter says
that the most welcomed improve-
ments to the current contract are in
the areas of the pension. The I.W.A.
negotiated early retirement at age 58
with full bridging.

“This meant a lot to the people who
are going to retire in the next five

Despite technological
upgrading the plant
has maintained
employment levels
since 1990

years,” says Brother McCarter. “There
are people who have not been in the
new pension formula long enough to
benefit from it.”

The union negotiated a catch-all
clause which stipulates that a retiring
member can’t receive even one cent
less than the old plan would have pro-
vided in any event.

Over the past two collective agree-
ments the union has increased-past
service benefits by 75%. The new pen-
sion plan, started in 1986, will pay full
benefits after 20 years of being in the
new plan.

Because of the early retirement im-
provements, McCarter says that if all
eligible workers retire at age 58 over
the term of the collective agreement,
37 positions will be vacated, creating
new openings for younger people.

The I.W.A. has a long history at the
operation. Originally the predecessor
company (Pembroke Shook Mills) op-
erated at a site across the street from
the current plant, where it produced
wood packing boxes.

Then it moved to the current site in
1954 and grew in size, still producing
wood boxes until 1962 at the old site,
when the demand for corrugated took
over.

The operation was its own individ-
ual I.W.A. local prior to 1959 when the
union organized it into its newfound
geographical structure.

In 1999 Local 1000 will be celebrat-
ing its 40th anniversary.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER 1996/17