Catalyst’s refinance plan…

Catalyst has come up with a plan to postpone some of the debt that was coming due, by buying back 8.5% notes that were due in 2011, and in return issuing common shares along with 10% notes that come due 2016.

The details can be found here!

Crofton

The local in Crofton have been told that the mill will close on the 23rd of December for Christmas. It will then start back up on the 28th with the exception of PM1. That machine will remain down indefinitely.

Co-Gen settlement

This was released today. we don’t know what the ramifications are yet.

November 20, 2009

Catalyst and Island Co-gen reach arbitration settlement

Richmond (BC) – Catalyst Paper (TSX:CTL) announced today that it has settled the arbitration proceeding relating to its 20-year Energy Services Agreement  with Island Cogeneration No. 2. Inc. (Cogen). This arbitration was a result of Catalyst’s declaration of force majeure under the Energy Services Agreement due to the permanent closure of its Elk Falls pulp mill in November 2008 as a result of the unavailability of sawdust fibre.

This settlement terminates the Energy Services Agreement and all of Catalyst’s related obligations including its contingent liability for energy not purchased. Subject to subdivision approval, Catalyst has agreed to transfer to Cogen land currently leased by Cogen upon which its energy facility is located. Catalyst has also granted certain easements and access rights to Cogen to facilitate the independent operation of the energy facility.  In addition, Cogen has agreed to take steps to eliminate its reliance on Catalyst for certain services and the company has agreed to cooperate with Cogen in that regard.

Catalyst appoints new CFO

Brian Baarda, a name that most people at Elk are familiar with, has just been appointed as the new CFO of Catalyst Paper. See the attached press release.

Richmond (BC) – Catalyst Paper (TSX:CTL) today announced the appointment of Brian Baarda, vice president, finance and chief financial officer effective November 5, 2009.

Mr. Baarda brings 20 years of industry experience most recently as vice-president, operations responsible for recycled paper production and facilities. Prior to that he was vice president of Powell River Division, and from 2003 to 2005 he held the role of vice-president, supply chain.

He began his career with Fletcher Challenge at the Mackenzie pulp mill in northern British Columbia where he held a number of senior accounting and analysis positions between 1990 and 2000. He moved to the operations side of the business in 2001 as the pulp mill manager at Elk Falls, a role he held until 2003.

Wage Caucus

We were in Vancouver last week at the Western Region Pulp & Paper Wage Caucus. Here are details about a few of the bigger issues we discussed from the agenda.

Update #4 EI appeal

So the saga goes on…

Just a couple of weeks ago we received a favourable decision from the board of referees over our appeal of how E/I treated holiday pay in advance.
Yesterday we got confirmation that the EI commission is appealing that decision. They will now go in front of the umpire to see if he will overturn the board of referees decision. It’s starting to feel like dealing with Catalyst (except at least EI gives you answers to your questions)

I’ll post more details as soon as I get them.

Kitimat pulp mill to close shop

By Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun October 28, 2009

West Fraser Timber says it is shutting down its Eurocan pulp mill at Kitimat, throwing 535 people out of work. The mill will close Jan. 31, the company said in a news release late Wednesday. Company president Hank Ketcham blamed “a steep decline” in the mill’s financial results for the closure.

Company Proposal to Restart Elk – Update

Representatives from both Locals 630 and 1123 along with our National rep met with the Company on Wed Oct 21st to give them a formal response to their recent proposal for restarting Elk Falls.
We told the Company that both Locals had reviewed it with their respective memberships and that the members clearly indicated they were not interested in the proposal.