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<a. t 4 4. ~~ Wednesday, September 3, 1986 Vol. 41 No. 35 med Serving Terrace Bay, Schreiber and Rossport 35° Safety a concern at mill Concerns about safety and questions as to how many workers will be tak- ing the company's retire- ment option are just two of the issues that have arisen following last week's ann- ouncement by Kimberly- Clark of Canada of 355 lay-offs at its pulp mill and woodlands operations in the Terrace Bay area. Don Lavigne, President of the United Paperworkers International Union local in Terrace Bay, appeared at the August 25 meeting of Terrace Bay Council to ex- plain the union's side of the crisis. He said he doesn't know how the mill is going to run with such a reduced work-force. - **We won't sacrifice saf- ety for them,"' he stressed: In a K-C newsletter releas- ed last week, mill safety co-ordinator Bill Love said the company will not com- promise health or safety in implementing its "survival plan."' "'There is a safe method of doing every job and all of us at the mill have full control over job methods and procedures," Love noted. "There is no such thing as an efficient mill with a poor safety record." At the Council meeting, Lavigne also said he and many others were "totally amazed" at how many lay- offs took place at the mill itself and 'how little the company's woodlands op- erations in Longlac suf- fered by comparison. He did add, though, that the company's announced two month suspension of those operations will probably be extended. "'Those workers are not expecting to come back to work this year at all," Lavigne said. '"We are ex- pecting more to come. It's not over yet...right now the union's feeling is one of paranoia." The lay-offs touched al- most everyone in the area. Jack Chapman, husband of Ducky A banquet and auction is going to be held on Friday, September 5 by the Terrace Bay area chapter of Ducks Unlimited Canada. It will take place at the Schreiber Recreation Centre starting at 6 p.m. For more information, call Bob Baxter at 825- 9121 or Preston McKeever at 824-2657. Tickets are available at Sun and Fur Sports in Terrace Bay. Reeve Ollie Chapman, and a manager at the mill, was one of those who were laid off, as was Lavigne's sister. Lavigne admitted that many of those eligible for the company's early retire- ment option seem to be considering it, but he pointed out that no matter what happens, there will still be 355 jobs gone. A number of those in the union's executive have told Lavigne that even they are going to accept the option. There are presently 109 employees who have the opportunity of taking ear- ly retirement. They will have six weeks to decide. The company has announc- ed that for every worker who takes the option, that will mean one less laid-off employee. "It's quite important that the union work alongside Council," Lavigne pointed out. "We couldn't prepare ourselves for this, but we have to work together now."' He said one possibility might be an ad hoc com- mittee of two or three from Council and two or three from the union executive. "It seems appropriate that the union and the municipality work together on this," clerk Larry Simons said. He also said another idea might be to establish a clearing-house continued on page 2 Councils meet It has been discussed since last May, but it took the lay-offs of 355 workers ~ from the Kimberly-Clark pulp mill in Terrace Bay to provide the final spark, and now the Councils of Terr- ace Bay and Schreiber will finally be meeting later on this month for the first time since Terrace Bay was in- corporated as a municipali- ty almost 30 years ago. Terrace Bay Reeve Ollie Chapman announced last week that a joint Council meeting will be held on either September 29 or 30 in Schreiber. She said at the August 25 meeting of Terrace Bay Council that Schreiber Reeve Mike Cosgrove has been discussing with her the possibility of such a meeting for months. 'This will be a first for us," she explained. "It's a very positive step...it will help to do away with any hard feelings, and apathy, and competition."' Later, she said she welcomes the new "spirit of co-operat- ion'" the meetings will provide. Reeve Cosgrove was al- so pleased with the news. He admitted that the rivalry is still there between the two towns, but now it doesn't seem to be as "in- tense" as it once was. "'T've lived in Schreiber all of my life, and no one had ever considered such a meeting before," he said. "'We would like to get the two Councils working together a little bit," Reeve Chapman said. Reeve Cos- grove had suggested to her that Schreiber could host the first meeting, at which "*mutual concerns" will be discussed, with the recent lay-offs to be almost cer- tainly at the top of the agenda. Reeve Chapman said in an interview last week that she hopes the meetings will now be held on a regular basis, but she added she's not yet sure how often such meetings should be held. "This could turn into a sub-committee," she said. Such a committee would only include a few mem- bers from each Council, That will be decided by the Councils later on. Earlier this year, a new group was formed for the heads of Councils in five area communities: Terrace Bay, Schreiber, Geraldton, Longlac, and Nakina, plus an area Indian band. The next meeting of that comm- ittee will be held in Long- lac on September 5, just before the Thunder Bay District Municipal League meeting, scheduled for that weekend. Another important sess- ion coming up for Council is set for Sept. 18 in Ter- race Bay with the Deputy Minister of Northern Dev- elopment and Mines. That Ministry, Reeve Chapman said, is now thinking about conducting an impact study about the local K-C lay-offs. Pow! Pow! Todd Mckie is almost invisible in his camouflage gear as he takes aim on a near- by "enemy" soldier. No, this isn't a Canadian Forces exercise. It's actually a new outdoor game for adults, brought to Terrace Bay by Mac Rogerson. McKie is shown with one of the guns used to play the adventure game. See the story on page 6 in this week's issue of the News for more information. Contract awarded for new heating system A tender of $123,153, the lowest of three bids received by Terrace Bay Council for the township's proposed Recreation Cen- tre heating system, was ac- cepted by Council at its meeting on August 25. Reeve and Reeve Terrace Bay Reeve Ollie Chapman and Schreiber Reeve Mike Cosgrove, seen here in arecent informal discussion, announced last week that their Councils will meet at the end of this month in what Reeve Chapman called a new '"'spirit of co-operation.' ' She added that this is 2 municipal first, as such a meeting has not been held since Terrace Bay became incorporated 28 years ago. The E.S. Fox quotation was slightly over the estimate that was prepared for Council on May 12, - town engineer Doug Baker admitted. He also said there are other factors to consider over and above the tender- ed project, such as a necessary hydro upgrade of $20,000 and required eng- ineering work estimated at $11,400, bringing the total heating system price up to $159,400. Council's gov- ernment grant application for the system was only $120,000, plus $12,000 for engineering. "'The big question now is the hydro upgrade," he told Council. "Perhaps our consultant did not allow for it."' The town's project consultant, Proctor and Redfern of Thunder Bay, made the tender recom- mendation in an August 8 letter. E.S. Fox is also of Thunder Bay. Township clerk Larry Simons pointed out that the additional hydro costs, which will involve the in- stallation of transformers, -- will be picked up by Terr- ace Bay Hydro. "This won't even be coming out of the town budget,'"' he added. '*Our true cost is really $134 ,000...we are not that far off," George Ramsay, township Councillor said. ""Maybe we shouldn't have even shown that hydro figure,'; Baker said. "*Hydro had to do this sooner or later anyway," Ramsay replied. When questioned about the grant, Simons replied that the provincial govern- ment has sent no further word about it to him except to say that they've receiv- ed the application. Council then passed a motion accepting the E.S. Fox tender. After the meet- ing, Baker told the News ~ that work on the system is expected to begin around September 15. "The materials are on order," Baker explained. Those material include two boilers needed for the system. "They (E.S. Fox) have already had an on-site inspection, and their est- imate for the work is three weeks... .it should be opera- tional by December 1 this year."' Council decided to put in a heating system for the centre and swimming pool when it received notice that Birchwood Terrace would be terminating its heat supply contract to the cen- tre next year. -- The other bids submitted ' were $131,049 from Har- nett Mechanical and a total of $144,490 from Lake- | head Acadia. All three companies are based in Thunder Bay. The Proctor and Red- fern letter noted that the Harnett Mechanical bid had to be disqualified as it did not include a bid- bond or agreement to bond, a tender requirement. "We propose that you award the work to E.S. Fox, the low bidder, as soon as possible to ensure an early completion of the - work," the letter from Michael C. Wesa conclud- ed.