Steelworkers approve Terrace Bay mill contract

Workers at Terrace Bay Pulp have ratified a collective agreement with Aditya Birla Group, an India-based company in the process of buying the mill.

The contract includes some concessions.

Steelworkers Union spokesperson Herb Daniher said workers will be responsible for 25 per cent of the cost of their benefits.  In the previous contract, the employer covered 100 per cent of the cost.

Daniher said the union also agreed to more liberal contracting-out language.  Under the terms of the five-year deal, there will be no pay increase in the first three years and small increases in the last two years.

He said more than 75 per cent of the union membership voted in favour. Daniher said some workers will start being recalled as early as next month to prepare the mill for startup. All 300 workers should be back on the job sometime in October.

Daniher confirmed Thursday morning a Toronto judge approved the offer from India-based Aditya Birla Group to buy the mill. The full written decision from the judge will be forthcoming.

The purchase by the Indian textile company had earlier hit a potential roadblock after a Chinese company tried to make its own case to take over the mill.