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WEDNESDAY
MARCH 26, 1997

Court orders Repap to pay

REPAP B.C. contractors and suppliers won conces-
sions in court Friday that will ensure their interests ~
and not just the company’s -- will be protected ir in the
months ahead.

Key among them wasa ruling that the company pay
logging contractors a week in advance of the work
being done, said lawyer Shane Strukoff, who acted for
the Repap B.C. Creditors Group.

That heads off any move: by the company.to stretch
out its payment terms: in-the days ahead ‘and ensures
the company keeps its ‘accounts current to contractors
and suppliers.

“We didn’! want them to be holding the baga again if
they do a lot more’service e and then’ go unpaid again,”
Strukoff said,

About 1,400 different operators are owed_a total of
$70 million fof work done prior to March 3. That mon-
ey is frozen under the bankruptcy protection measures
granted by the court.

The Supreme Court also granted contractors more
protection in the event Repap B.C. moves to cancel
contracts.

Any logging contract terminations nuw require 21
days notice, plus reasons, Strukoff said, And the con-
tractors involved can dispute the terminations in court.

‘That ensures the company can’t arbitrarily cancel
contracts with certain. suppliers and contractors.

_ Strukoff said that could have been used by the.compa-
ny to selectively eliminate companies and people who

are less cooperative than others.
“We didn’t want anything to be arbitrary,” he said,
The Supreme Court’s ‘new order under.’ the

Companies Creditors" Arrangements Act gives six:
~, months for court-appointed monitor David Bowra lo

come up with a restructuring plan.
Bowrais to make an interim report in the next month

or two outlining whether Repap-B.C. is currently
viable. That report has to be positive before he gets the:

green light to go ahead with the restructuring.

Strukoff says that process remains the contractors’
and suppliers’ best hope of getting paid.

Bowra’s affadavit ta the court indicates that if Repap
B.C. were liquidated right now, the proceeds wouldn't
even cover the $480 million owed to the TD and Royal
banks, That means that if the restructuring fails and
bankruptcy results, the other unsecured creditors
would get nothing.

“ The various creditors will be divided up into ditter-

ent classes by Bowra,-and each class will vote on wha--
_ tever restructuring package he comes up with later in

the year, All of those classes would have to approve
the package for those measures to go. ahead and stave
off bankruptcy...

‘ Strukoff said Bowra's challedge i is to be able to offer
. each group of creditors: more than what bankruptcy

RD =

in advance

ej HAD2 7 1997, a

LEARNING RES URE
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ean

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es.” he said.

The company’s success depends on its relationship
with contractors and supplicrs, Strukoff added, saying
the banks that nuw have ownership of the company
realize that.

*“They’re going to have to.keep creditors happy,” he
said. “If the crediturs are unhappy they may not: want

. todo business any more.”

Bowra also told the court Friday he will be looking
at (he company ’s internal: financial t transactions as part

_ Of his review.

“Strukoff said that should address northwestern con-
cerns that Repap diverted money out of the northwest!
(0 other. projects out east. “Hopefully if there is any-
(hing questionadle, it will come out.”

“The court deferred until Apr. 8 a decision on.a
request-by Canadian Stevedoring ta farm a creditors’

would give,

commitlee to in part investigate those allegations.
Phere’ has to be something in it for all those class-

Continued Page A2

Sawniill
layoffs
looming

SKEENA SAWMILLS
employees have been told to
brace for another shutdown
likely to start in late May.

That's when the current sup-
ply of logs in the mill's yard
is projected to run out, West
Fraser northwest regional
operations. manager Bruce
MacNicol said Monday. °

The company has said it
won't start up its northwest
logging operations again until
the provincial: government. ©
takes action to reduce thecost .
of logging here. .-

“It lakes a month to. six
weeks to actually get wood -
flowing in to the plants once
you start logging operations
because a lot of our logging is
offshore,” MacNicol said,

That means April 14th is the
paint by which logging oper-
ations must resume if a shut-
down is to be averted, he said.

“That's a pretty critical date
for us,” MacNical said. “If
we don't get our logging
operations going by. the 14th
of April we're probably going
to be into some forced
downtime.”

The longer logging remains
shut down past that date, the
longer the mill shutdewn will
run this summer.

MacNicol said West Fraser
will have to see the provincial
government’s talk about for-

* estry changes turn into action
before lagging will-resume.

“We don’t have enough
indication yel that things are
poing to change significantly
enough to warrant starting
up.”

The industry as a whole is
slill hopeful that Victoria is
going to come up with solu-
tions, he said. But. he said
those solutions will have to
address the northwest’s pulp
content problem - not just
province-wide issues,

It will be the second shut-
down this year for workers at
Skeena Sawmills. The mill
shut down from Dec. 23 until
Mar. 4. ,

= Piea from all ages

YOUNG AND OLD turned out for the Repap
creditors' rally March 18 at the arena. That's Felix
Grant, son of Diane Brown, standing on the right.

Hundreds of people turned out for the event. For
pictures of the rally and for letters on the subject
of the Repap failure, please turn to Page AS.

Forest study
goal queried

A $135,000 study partly being conducted in Terrace on the
status of women in forestry is receiving mixed reviews
from local women. ,

The project is being conducted by the provincial employ-
ment and invesiment ministry using money from Forest
Renewal B.C. (FRBC).

“Tt actually started out as part of an overall survey of
women in the work force,’’ says Brenda Janke of the
employment ministry. ‘‘What we found was that FRBC is
one of the largest funding organizalions for ‘eroployment i int
the province, but there wasn’t anything in it geared to
women,’’

Janke says they also discovered there wasn’t any data on
women in the forest indusiry.

So last fall phone surveys were taken followed by focus
group meetings involving women in forest communities
such as Terrace, Williams Lake, Cranbrook and Campbell
River.

More workshops were held recently in Terrace and a
final report, complete with recommendations, should be
available sometime in May or June.

Janke says the project is important for several reasons.
“First, we didn’t know what kind of involvement women
had in the indusiry,’’ she says. ‘‘That’s why we talked to a
whole range of people with different economic. back-
grounds, ages and occupations.”’

Janke says the women had a variety of opinions on the
forest industry. ‘‘Some said there weren’t any barriers to
women at all,’” she says. ‘‘Others said it was impossible ta
make it in the industry because of existing attitudes and
structures.’

Another reason for the study, Janke says, is because of
the increasing involvement of FRBC in forest-based com-
munities.

“This is one of the largest sources of funding in the pro-
vince and in many ways women are excluded from it,”’ she
says. “Not many women are made aware of FRBC fund-
ing or how to apply.’’

Janke points out that forestry is changing and there are
increasing opportunities for women. She says one of the
study’s goals is to make women aware of the variely of
jobs available in the industry today.

“We're not trying to take jobs away from men,” she
says. ‘The reality today is that there are two people work-
ing in most families. They both need to know what's out
there.”

But Donna Blighton of the Terrace branch of Canadian
Women in Timber says there’s no need to single out
women for a special study, ‘‘There ought to he a study on
the whole industry, she says. ‘‘Not just one special interest
group.”

Blighton says since FRBC money comes from stumpage
fees, then it comes from all forest workers -— both men
and women. And she argues it should go back to all of
them.

“We're more concerned about the loggers who are
losing their jobs right now,’ she says. ‘It’s good to see
more women involved, but we don’t support special Ireat-
ment for either gender.”

Food bank cancels April opening

THE food bank is broke, And that means there won't be
any distribution next month unless a miracle happens.

It costs about $3,500 to $4,000 each month to run The
Food Bank of the Churches. As of late last week, only $63
was in the bank’s bank account

The food bank went into its current season by repeating
what it has done over the last few years -—— paring down
the amount of food that’s distributed in order to make the
money stretch and to help more people, explains food bank
secretary Wilma Costain.

“(Bxpenses are up axid donations are down,”’ she said.

Bags currently contain a few tins of vegetables, soup and
beans, a tin of milk, loaf of bread, eggs, a pound of ham-
burger, and a pound of margarine. Most’ of that food is pur-

chased.

Food donations that come in, such as peanut butter, pud-
ding and canned fruit, are saved for larger families. These
extra foodstuffs get added to their bags, explained Costain.

But donated food alone isn’t enough lo keep the food
bank running. For the fast food bank in March, 543 bags
were handed ont, enough food for about 1,000 people.

The food bank is timed so it takes place during the week
before social assistance cheques are handed out. It’s at that
point that families usually need the help the most.

The number of food bags handed out has gone up by
about 25 bags each month over the last three months, said
Costaln.

‘Two years ago the food bank also ran out of money and

the April distribution was cancelled,

But this could be a particularly bad time, due to the
Repap failure which has affected smaller companies and
their employecs.

When workers were laid off at Skcena Sawmills for three
months, Christine Simmons, head of the food bank, said
the bank had to help out some families in need.

She hasn’t seen anybody affected by Repap yet come
forward to ask for help, but says she wouldn’t be surprised
if it happens.

The food bank has been operating since the 1980s. It tra-
ditionally opens in November, takes the month of Decem-
ber off because of the Salvation Army Christmas hamper
program and returns for January to April.

Wilma Costain | |