Union approves Port Townsend Paper mill contract

Published 12:12 am Thursday, August 4, 2011

PORT TOWNSEND — A contract has been settled with the United Steelworkers Union local at the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill.

“The company is pleased we’ve settled the contract negotiations,” said Chuck Madison, vice president of human resources at the mill, on Wednesday.

Madison declined to comment further.

Jim Woodward of the Auburn office of the United Steelworkers of America, who is the lead negotiator for the United Steelworkers Local 175 in Port Townsend, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mike Orr, acting president of the Local 175 — which represents 230 of the mill’s 285 employees — did not return a call requesting comment.

The contract, approved July 28, provides small pay increases over the next three years, said The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader weekly newspaper.

The contract, effective from March 1 of this year through Feb. 28, 2014, calls for a 1.5 percent pay hike this year; another 1.5 hike effective March 1, 2012; and a 1.75 percent hike effective July 1, 2013, The Leader reported.

Union members had rejected contract proposals twice — once in March and once in May.

After the May contract rejection, Woodward said that “the real sticking point is that people are frustrated.

“They are frustrated every time they fill the gas tank or go to the grocery store.”

He said that “costs are high for both employees and companies. . . . I think it’s just real frustrating out there for everybody.

“I think that we can work out any differences we have,” Woodward said then.

The mill is Jefferson County’s largest private employer.