Bad news for Central Newfoundland

I can't say this really comes as a surprise - in fact, I'm not sure the 99-year-old mill would have survived much longer, even with concessions from the union - but it's depressing nonetheless:

AbitibiBowater said Thursday it will close a financially troubled mill in central Newfoundland, as part of a broader plan to right itself amid slumping consumer demand for newspapers.

The Montreal-based newsprint giant said it will close the Grand Falls-Windsor mill in the first quarter of 2009. The company is also closing a U.S. mill.

The decision comes a month after unionized workers at the Grand Falls-Windsor mill overwhelmingly rejected what the company called its final offer to keep the operation viable.

About 450 people worked inside the mill, and about 1,000 people altogether, including loggers, forest workers and stevedores, relied on it for employment.

[...]

In 2005, Abitibi Consolidated — which would later merge with archrival Bowater — closed a mill in Stephenville, on Newfoundland's west coast. About 300 full-time and part-time employees worked within that mill.

This time next year, there will only one mill operating in Newfoundland - the Kruger facility in Corner Brook, which opened in 1925. And that's if we're lucky.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at December 4, 2008 03:31 PM