News Workforce
Northern Pulp to receive loan for severance payments [UPDATED]

Northern Pulp’s laid-off workforce will receive their remaining severance payments after the mill’s parent company, Paper Excellence, received permission to grant a loan.

According to CBC News, Paper Excellence received approval on the $6.2-million loan from the British Columbia Supreme Court (where Paper Excellence is headquartered) on Sep. 25.

The money will be used to pay out severance and retiree benefits for the mill’s workforce, which was mostly laid off in January when the Nova Scotia–based Northern Pulp shut down. The few remaining workers maintaining the mill site will also receive salary continuation.

Graham Kissack, vice-president of Paper Excellence, says the payments will be issued ‘as quickly as possible.’

In a statement, Linda MacNeil, Unifor’s Atlantic Regional Director, says the organization is pleased its workers will receive what they are owed.

“We’ve fought long and hard for these members and continue to believe in the mill’s importance in Nova Scotia and the possibility for Northern Pulp to move forward as an environmentally sound operator with a new legacy as a good community partner,” she says.

Read the full story here.