Unfortunately for the employees of Fraser Paper in Madawaska and the company as a whole, this is the absolute end for a bankrupt company. The leadership at Fraser played "chicken" with the Canadian paperworkers union and lost. Anyone who knows anything about the economics of making paper, transforming an integrated mill into a non-integrated mill is sheer stupidity. Good job, Peter, Jeff, and Bill...... More carnage for your resumes.

In a terrible economy, with sky high unemployment, it's amazing that people would vote to kill their own $30 an hour jobs. Actually, no it's not. This is the sad fact of unionism today. As someone who was a union representative when I was young and stupid, I hope all unions die as soon as possible. In Canada, unemployment checks are considered a God-given right that should be used early and often. So it doesn't surprise me that the Edmunston union members would decide to effectively stop working and take a one year vacation. I just know that if I was a child whose parent had just done that, I wouldn't feel too secure or happy that my family now has one less breadwinner. Union members are certifiably crazy. Unions are corrupt. Unions suck.

But I guess it's always more PIC to blame the owners, management, etc. etc. Apapermaker says that the company lost. The employees just lost. Bigtime.

Pretty sad, but both unions a corporate are as crooked as a dogs hind leg. As someone who grew up in the Katahdin region I observed Great Northern/GP/Nekoosa/?/Katahdin Paper in Millinocket go the way of the dodo bird. We can blame the unions or corporate, but it's gone. It's a rough market and if the parties involved can't build trust surviving on less then 200 employed will soak up unemployment in the border region and the area will be slammed. The world is changing and although paper products have and will continue to have demand the market is shrinking while competitors from the outside are offering products at a cheaper price. Fairly basic economics. We can finger point and blame, but it all goes back to simple economics. If you can't make a reasonable living at what you do whether it's a small business or large corporation the jib's up. For Fraser to not have some slime bags running the show would be impossible and for the unions to not have the same would be equally impossible. Remember B Madoff and his 150 yrs at a confined "country club". Lots trusted him as a super guru and look where they ended up.

Very sad. It's hard to imageine how families in the area are going to survive without those jobs. If I worked at the Madawaska plant, I'd be looking for another option. Pronto.

It all started May 1,2003 with the cronnies running the show back then. Remember SHOCK AND AWE.

If you don't take care of your employees which is the biggest asset a company has then your doomed.

This is what has happened here...... They have and had some of the best worker in this state and the cronnies thought

they could make more MONEY elminating positions doing more with less. Some employees had 30 years experience

and they let them go for no good reason. 6 years later they are going broke.

They are still playing with the people. You would think they have done enough damage to the families up there

when they fired a bunch of good people. People had to relocate andfind other jobs. Move away from your culture

Move away from your friends ETC. To top it all of the Baldi approved all of this it was suppose to make the company stronger.

He sent the Rapid Response Team up there . It was nothing but a dog and pony show............

Reaganite -

Let me clarify.....

1. Everybody lost

2. The game of chicken was not necessary. Good managers have more finesse than that

3. Madawaska and East Millinocket are next

4. Fundementally, I agree with you - particularly in the the case of the CEP

This is all just a plot by Homeland Security to close a massive hole in our border. I'm sure that al Qaeda was sneaking their next wave of terrorists in through that pulp pipeline from Edmunston to Madawaska . . .

Before there is any more criticizing unions let me give you some facts. We the unionized hourly workers have been taking in the wallet for some time now. The Edmunston union is said to have refused a four percent cut in wages, let me clarify this. Four years ago these people took a wage freeze, with the promise of six percent increase taking effect July 1, 2009, this final offer as they called it revoked this. ( http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/753569 ) That make it a 10 percent cut in pay, besides other benefits that they are losing.

I understand that there are hard economic times, but while all this is going on here is what is going on with our managers.

Peter Gordon,

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=26536693&privcapId=4220971&previousCapId=4220971&previousTitle=Fraser%20Papers%20Inc

Jeffrey C. Dutton

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=10494687&privcapId=4220971&previousCapId=4220971&previousTitle=Fraser%20Papers%20Inc

Glen McMillan

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=12929498&privcapId=4220971&previousCapId=4220971&previousTitle=Fraser%20Papers%20Inc

William Manzer

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=12929502&privcapId=4220971&previousCapId=4220971&previousTitle=Fraser%20Papers%20Inc

Those are only four of our top executives, study their salaries. Notice the bonuses, this while the hourly unionized worker has to take more cuts to quote "save the company".

This is the information age, get the facts before criticizing anyone. Before knocking Unions imagine where we'd be if we never had them.

Shutting down half the plant is pure stupid.

Anyone who is pointing at the unions and employees for the cause of this mess is myopic, jealous, vindictive and ignorant. It is the equivalent of blaming your children for the state of this country's economy and its subsequent impact on your employment and household budget.

Fraser used to be an industry leader regarding longterm planning, sustainablility, foresight regarding their land management practices, employees and assets. They had an outstanding tree nursery program and owned hundreds of thousands acres of forest land. They had a mill store that had inventory where any mill in a 500 mile radius could bail them out in an emergency. Fraser was an active participant in the surrounding communities financing/owning a golf course, corporate jet, buildings, clubs that they freely shared with the community. I personally know several people whose lives were saved by the Fraser corporate jet flying them down to Bangor or Boston for emergency medical care that was not available in the area.

So what is the problem?

The problem is Fraser was an asset rich company. Corporate raiders forced decisions that required annual stock profits instead of long term viability. They sold their share in the golf course, sold the company jet, closed their tree nursery, sold their forest lands, tapped into and exhausted pension funds. Fraser is now reduced to buildings containing what will be in the near future scrap metal.

Who is to blame?

Our business schools that teach short term profits are more important than long term viability. They teach strategies that emphasize doing more with less without keeping reserves. They put no value on intangible assets such as knowlege and wisdom gained from experience and getting rid of human capital because it cannot be quantified on a spreadsheet. Everybody is expendable, nobody is irreplaceable. What matters is what can be quantified.

These graduates now move to either government positions or corporate positions and practice what has been taught to them. Our government whose unchecked spending is constantly looking for more money so they now tax inventory, land holdings and other assets. So there goes the company mill store, forest lands and other assets because now they become long term liabilities instead of assets. As for the corporate raiders, they look at the sale of these assets as a means of "improving" the balance sheet and shifting liquid assets to stock margins ensuring performance bonuses. If these managers are not willing to do this, they are fired and replaced with someone who can do what they are asked.

This is not a Fraser problem, this is a national crisis that is being repeated in every industry. Look around you, read the news.

The only solution I see is private industry and/or employee ownership. Unfortunately it is too late for these gutted industries to consider this as an option. They are left with a rusted skeleton of what they used to be.

Don't point your finger at those "survivors" who are desperately trying to hold on to what little they have left. There will be nothing left and they are just trying to prolong the inevitable. An abandoned, gutted shell of a factory building.

pass_it_on You hit the nail right on the head. And ftknt59 you have also hit the nail. These cronnies are all about them and screw the community and the regular joe's. Look at the maoney these cronnies make can a company the is going bankrupt afford these wages that is just what's on the books. Can imagine these guys sucking the company dry. It's time for the poepl of the valley to speak up.........

whats the word? blackmail ? yeah, thats it. Why is it everyone jumps to blame the unions? Why is there no mention of salried employees taking wage cuts? There never is. They make 2 to 3 times more than hourly. Seems if it is that critical they should help save the mill too. Doing more with and for less has become the trend in the pulp and paper industry.

harley07,

There are no people left. The people have no power. Whether they be employees or managers. Your legislators created this problem 30 years ago. We are seeing the results of decisions and laws made in the last 30 to 40 years.

I don't expect to collect one dime of the pension benefits I was supposed to be accruing during my employment there. The current retirees don't know from one month to the next when those benefits will stop. The current employees, those that are left, know it is only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.

Who are we kidding when we look at the government and current corporate business entities and ask them to fix this mess? Obamacare is a joke, what will fund it? The Baldacci Rapid Rescue Team is nothing more than a media circus, they don't have the power to reverse 30 years of bad decisions.

Just my opinion for what it is worth, hang tight and enjoy the ride. It will not be pretty. I just pray that a Phoenix will rise from the ashes with our being sadder and wiser. Our children will reap the results that were sown.

Fraser Paper, Brookfield Power, Brookfield Asset Management----- whatever, they and the politicians of Maine are all corrupt.

.

We can vote out Michaud, Collins and Snowe, make sure that the Baldacci’s stooges (Rowe, Richardson & McGowan) don’t get in, but what do we do with BAM.

.

While Brookfield sits and watches with its diluted self importance and feels Millinocket isn’t moving forward with its “energy independence project”------ their wrong.

.

The fact is that Millinocket has got off its butt and will become able to purchase power off the grid and resell it to the region at competitive rates.

.

While there are those that are willing to purchase the mill, Brookfield won’t sell…

This endeavor will force Brookfield to adjust its rates, and likely devalue its worth in the region.

.

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Here is what the Edmundston Mill needs to figure out: Why is outsourcing a raw material or a semi finished material cheaper for the Madawaska Mill? Years ago it was far more cost effective to be vertically integrated and contain as much of your processing internally. Why is it cheaper to lengthen your supply chain? Either the accountants cannot figure the standard cost or there is so much waste in the plants that it has come to this. The Unions can make concessions but that will only be a one time benefit. Maybe it is time to plant bamboo.

I wonder what percent of their bonuses came from the 25 million (borrored?) from the pension fund?

When was this money borrowed? I heard 3 years ago..

Hum, 23 years ago the warning bells rang in Millinocket, Wasn't anyone listening? No, not even the union leaders in the state and our international. Money makes the world go round. Is it to late to stand up together, no, but it's going to hurt more now then if we would have done it. 23 yrs. ago. You can thank reagan (misspelled and belittled out of no respect) and his trickle down theory, and deregulation. Would you call Walmart a corp. or a monopoly. Remember the S&L bailout, to the tune of 250 billion +, because of deregulation. It opened the door for a lot of take overs and raiding of assets. We have been sheep and this is the results.

Man, reading the comments far outstrips whatever the article brought to the table. I'd like to thank you all for educating this guy in far away Texas regarding history and the slow demise of the paper industry in Maine. Now, what is the replacement or can it be saved? Can the state live off tenter's and canoers, hikers and bikers?

Millinocket is dead and gone forever. Its Massinocket now........

ftknt59

Be careful of painting everyone with the same broad brush....there's one on your list that has had nothing but the best interests of Fraser people at heart. If you know anything about Fraser, you know who he is. Even in the information age, it still pays to know about the details