Mackenzie Workers May Have Lessons To Learn From Harmac Workers

By 250 News

Nanaimo, B.C. – Mackenzie just might learn something from their cousins in Nanaimo.

The court has approved the Harmac employees proposal to buy the former Pope and Talbot pulp mill from the Receiver.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Donald Brenner made the decision yesterday clearing the way for “Nanaimo Forest Products” a group made up of former employees, managers and some private investors, to be the new owners of the mill.

The price tag was $13.2 million.

Part of the deal calls for the new owners to wipe out liability for any outstanding vacation pay owed to Harmac employees. That is said to be worth about $6 million dollars.

Minister of Forests and Range, Pat Bell, says there may be a similar opportunity for employees of the Mackenzie Pulp Mill “The workers in Nanaimo really stepped up to the plate, and we (the provincial government) supported that.”

Bell says there are still some parties interested in purchasing the Mackenzie Pulp Mill, but there is nothing saying the employees couldn’t put together a deal similar to the Harmac package “The province would offer a Mackenzie employee group the same kind of support we gave the Harmac workers, and that is funding to develop a business case and assistance with the assessment of the facility.”

Bell says if the Mackenzie workers developed a good plan, the province would support the sale to the workers group, just as it did in the case of Harmac. In the meantime, Bell says the court ruling that ties the Canfor sawmill chips to the Mackenzie pulp mill has made the job of finding a suitable buyer for the Mackenzie Pulp Mill a little easier “I think a lot of people believe securing that chip supply was a key.”

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