March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Workers in the dark

We at Great Northern are told we will be sold within two weeks. Will we have jobs at GNP after Aug. 1? Will we be able to afford to work at GNP after Aug. 1? How about my pension? Will they really close the Millinocket mill if we don’t give the concessions demanded of us? Should I retire now in hopes of having health insurance in my senior years?

In less than two weeks we are to be owned by Inexcon, a Quebec-based investment firm. We as the labor force have been kept in the dark on every aspect of what will potentially determine our immediate future.

Since Bowater’s announcement of May 19 of its agreement to sell GNP to Inexcon, things have been quiet — too quiet. We were told Bowater would keep us informed of any news concerning the sale as information becomes available. We have heard nothing of substance. Inexcon has been reluctant to answer any of our questions.

The people of Millinocket and East Millinocket are being manipulated by Bowater and Inexcon to give up a great portion of everything that they, their fathers and their grandfathers have struggled to gain. For Bowater to threaten to close the Millinocket mill if Inexcon doesn’t get what it wants is outrageous. If Inexcon can’t afford us then perhaps it should stay out of the paper industry in Maine. Its clandestine method of doing business in this case tells me something is amiss. Clyde Tarr III Greenbush


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