WISCONSIN RAPIDS - A tentative contract agreement was reached early Friday morning, Aug. 27, between Consolidated Papers, Inc. and leaders from the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers' International Union (PACE Locals 94, 116, 187, 359 and 1306).
In a joint statement, John Coirigall, employee relations director, and Mike Bolton, international representative of PACE, said, "This agreement calls for improvements in wages and benefits over a term of six years."
Members of the PACE locals will be voting in the near future. Details of the agreement are not being released, pending informational meetings the locals will be conducting. The release said the company and union strongly encourage affected employees to attend the informational meetings for details of the tentative agreement.
PACE unanimously recommends ratification of the agreement.
The five PACE locals represent approximately 2,810 members who work at Consolidated's Wisconsin Rapids, Biron, Kraft, Stevens Point, Paperboard Products and Wisconsin River divisions.
Negotiations are continuing between the company and four other unions: the Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 95; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Lodge 655; the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry, Local 807; and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1147.
Consolidated Papers, Inc. is North America's largest producer of coated and supercalendered printing papers for the printing and publishing industries. In addition, the company is a leading producer of coated specialty papers and manufactures paperboard, and paperboard products. Consolidated also produces elemental chlorine-free kraft pulp from virgin wood fiber for its own use and recycled pulp from printed and post-consumer scrap paper.
Consolidated employs approximately 6,800 people. The company is headquartered in Wisconsin Rapids and operates manufacturing facilities in Biron, Kimberly, Niagara, Stevens Point, Whiting and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, as well as in Duluth, Minn.
Consolidated owns and manages nearly 689,000 acres of forestland in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Ontario, Canada. The company obtains the fiber required for its papermaking operations from these renewable forests; from private, national, state and county forests; and from sawmill byproducts and recycled paper.