Staff Writer
The United Steelworkers Union, which represents laid-off workers at the Irving Forest sawmill, located in Nashville Plantation, has established a food bank for displaced mill workers. “On Jan. 16, the Fraser Paper Company announced it would shut down its Ashland sawmill for no less than four months. One day later, on Jan. 17, the management of the Irving Forest Products sawmill at Nashville Plantation, just outside Ashland, announced an ‘indefinite’ shutdown of its plant,” District Director of the United Steelworkers International Union William J. Plenta said in a recent press release.
The first shutdown left 70 workers affected by the closure. Irving’s closure affected 73 workers.
“Fraser’s announcement stated that the re-start of the mill would depend upon market conditions. Irving’s announcement also cited market conditions and inferred that the mill would not re-start without a significant change in the market dynamics,” said Plenta.
Plenta said both mills are thought to be dependent upon the U.S. housing industry which has slowed to alarming levels.
“The inventory of unsold new homes, i.e.: already built and on the market across the nation, has risen over 40 percent from the first quarter of 2007. Builders across the nation are suspending their operations and lumber markets and prices have fallen precipitously to a place that makes it nearly impossible to be profitable in the energy-intensive sawmill industry,” he said.
Due to the uncertainty in the housing market, area workers could be out of work for quite some time, according to Plenta. But bills don’t stop when a person loses their job, so the union is doing something to help workers struggling to make ends meet.
“In an effort to help our members through the remainder of the winter, we are acting today to establish a food bank in Ashland to serve their needs as best we can,” said Plenta. “It is not unusual for unions to organize such efforts to assist their members in the face of adversity. This effort is different however, and because United Steelworkers is concerned about workers everywhere, our food bank effort in Ashland will be open to help fill the needs of the non-union Fraser workers as well as our own members from the Irving facility.”
Duane Lugdon, of Bradley, is a staff representative for United Steelworkers and serves the representational needs of USW Local 1310 at the Irving sawmill. He sees no difference in the needs of union and non-union mill workers.
“Because the workers at the Fraser sawmill in Ashland are impacted in the same ways as our members at the Irving sawmill – and because they are the friends, neighbors and relatives of our members, we could never dream of building an effort limited only to our members in this whole dilemma,” stated Lugdon.
Lugdon called the job market where the displaced workers live, “bleak at best.”
“This is the wilderness frontier of Maine and jobs that sustain families through the extremes of the Maine winter are few and far between. The 143 workers at these two sawmills all have family members that count on these jobs to keep food on their tables, heat in their homes and provide health care where needed for the entire family,” said Lugdon.
Since the shutdowns, mill employees must now try to survive on unemployment alone.
“Their health insurance will end and they must purchase medications and health services without the benefits they had at the mills,” said Lugdon.
Wendell Rafford, president of USW Local 1310, has difficulty imagining how the displaced workers will find jobs at similar wages with comparable benefits.
“I can’t imagine where the 73 members of my local union will find work that will provide the same wages and benefits they have had at the Irving mill. In order for us to be able to provide for our families until time gets better, we have to work together to build this food bank and run it as efficiently as we can,” said Rafford.
Rafford sees the food bank as a way to “free up some of the dollars unemployment checks provide by not having to buy so much food.”
“Then we can use those dollars to buy the heat for our homes, the medications that our families need from time to time or pay a house payment to ward off foreclosure on our homes,” he said.
Rafford said Irving workers are not alone in this dilemma, their counterparts at Fraser are in the same boat and need help too.
“We are not alone and our friends, relatives and neighbors at the Fraser mill need help too. So, if we can get this food bank off the ground and keep it successful, we will make this help available to them as well,” said Rafford. “It might be an unusual thing that we are putting together but we couldn’t sleep at night if we didn’t invite them to our table.”
This is where the media comes into play, according to Lugdon.
“United Steelworkers needs the help of news outlets to put this story in front of the people of Maine who may want to assist in this huge effort. We invite any assistance that they find it in their hearts to provide,” said Lugdon.
Lugdon said an account has been created at the local Credit Union in Ashland for this purpose.
“We will be able to use financial donations in a ‘bulk buying’ sort of way to get discounts from retailers and buy inventory for the food bank at reduced prices,” Lugdon explained.
The food bank will be located in Ashland at the Odd Fellows Hall on Main St.
“We can accept the donation of all foods including meat and dairy products because of our ability to distribute the foods quickly. Canned goods, dry goods and boxed foods will be a tremendous help because we can store them longer and distribute them in a planned way,” said Lugdon.
Financial donations would also be appreciated. Send checks, made payable to: Local 1310 Health & Welfare Fund. c/o Mr. Artemis Coffin, PO Box 42, Ashland, ME 04732.
Donations of food for the food bank can be arranged by calling either Wendell or Brenda Rafford at 435-6062, Art or Rosemary Coffin at 435-6955.
