AbitibiBowater is not likely to receive government help for its mill in Grand Falls-Windsor, the WesternStar report…
AbitibiBowater is not likely to receive government help for its mill in Grand Falls-Windsor, the WesternStar reported.
A plan put forth by the company and submitted to union leaders and governments alike that detailed plans to revamp the facility involved the cutting of numerous unionized jobs, the WesternStar confirmed. Provincial Minister of Natural Resources Kathy Dunderdale said the likelihood of the government engaging in talks with the company concerning possible financial assistance is low, and that AbitibiBowater declined an offer last year to sell off 500,000 hectares provided to it through a 1905 Charter. While the company was not open to the idea of selling that land at the time, it has indicated interest in reopening those discussions now.
“One of the reasons that discussion was initiated was to prevent some of the actions that are being considered now in this plan,” the WesternStar reported Minister Dunderdale saying of the layoffs AbitibiBowater is considering.
While the government was aware that possible job cuts lay ahead, the severity of the proposal has come as a surprise. Details of the proposal have yet to be made public, by as Minister Dunderdale noted, “What they have put before us is much more extensive and much more serious than anything we have contemplated up to this point.”
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