Monday Morning Minute: July 11, 2022
Union Work
The National Child Identification Program Needs Your Help
In America each year 450,000 children run away, 300,000 children are abducted by family members, and more than 58,000 children are abducted by non-family members. That's more than 800,000 children in America missing each year—one child every 40 seconds. The National Child Identification Program is a community service initiative dedicated to changing these statistics by providing parents and guardians with a tool they can use to help protect their children.
The USW partners, alongside other organizations, with the National Child ID Program. Since its inception in 1997, the program has distributed over 70 million child identification kits throughout North America. Child ID kits allows parents to collect specific information by easily recording the physical characteristics and fingerprints of their children on identification cards that are then kept at home by the parent or guardian. If ever needed, the Child ID kit will give authorities vital information to assist their efforts to locate a missing child.
Thirty-nine state attorney general offices are slated to roll out the program over the next 14 months; however, this is where your help is needed – the identification kits require paper, and lots of it. Due to supply shortages in the industry right now, the program is unable to source the type of paper that it needs, which is 90-lb (500x24”x36”) basis weight, white 92-brightness, 7.6 caliper, cardstock paper in 12’x14,500 sized rolls.
We are not currently looking for paper roll donations at this time, but need leads on sourcing this type of paper quickly to meet the necessary deadline. If your mill, or another that you are aware of, produces this type of cardstock, please contact Laura Donovan (ldonovan@usw.org; 412-736-7702) with any information.
USW Constitutional Convention – Come Visit the Paper Sector Staff at the Industry/Sector Booth
As you know, the USW 2022 Constitutional Convention is quickly approaching next month over the dates of August 8-11 in Las Vegas, N.V. If you are attending, remember to stop by the sector/industry booth and visit with paper sector and other industry staff on the 1st level, Grand Ballroom Pre-Function area of the MGM Grand.
For information on registration and other requisite details, visit the following link: 2022 Constitutional Convention | United Steelworkers (usw.org). To download the call letter, visit the following link: Microsoft Word - Call US Version 2022 Final.doc (usw.org).
Safety
Did you Know? You Have a Right to Drink Water When Working in Hot Conditions
Federal law entitles you to a safe workplace, meaning, your employer must keep your workplace free of known health and safety hazards. This includes heat exposure.
Proper hydration is essential to prevent heat-related illness, which is easy to acquire in a humid paper mill or converting facility. Employers should provide cool water for workers to drink. Workers should be encouraged to drink at least one cup (8 ounces) of water every 20 minutes while working in the heat, even when they are not thirsty. For jobs that last more than two hours, employers should provide electrolyte-containing beverages such as sports drinks.
Learn more about the importance of water, rest and shade in preventing heat-related illness: Heat - Water. Rest. Shade | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
Industry Update
Paper Excellence through its Wholly-Owned Subsidiary Domtar Will Acquire Resolute Forest Products
USW Locals 59, 266, 319, 1261, 1329, 13-1327, 1356, 1423, 10-701, 12943, 266, 692, 899 & 9-790 – Domtar and Resolute Forest Products – Nekoosa, Wis.; Rothschild, Wis.; Hawesville, Ky.; Owensboro, Ky.; Ashdown, Ark.; Plymouth, N.C; Johnsonburg, Pa.; Kingsport, Tenn.; West Carrollton, Ohio; Coosa Pines, Ala. & Calhoun, Tenn.
Paper Excellence announced last week that it will be acquiring all outstanding common shares of Resolute Forest Products through its wholly-owned subsidiary Domtar. Resolute will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Domtar and will continue to operate under the Resolute name.
Common stock shares will be purchased for $20.50 each. The transaction is worth approximately $2.7 billion overall, inclusive of pension liabilities, and is currently expected to close in the first half of 2023, pending regulatory approvals.
The USW-represented Resolute Forest Products’s two mills in the United States impacted by the sale are located in Coosa Pines, Ala., and Calhoun, Tenn. They produce fluff pulp and retail tissue, which will build on Domtar’s current portfolio of linerboard, fine papers and fluff pulp.
From Two Sides North America – Addressing Common Myths and Making the Case for Paper – In our increasingly digital world, knowledge – knowing the facts about the unique sustainability of paper – is a potent antidote to the common environmental myths used to justify replacing paper mail with electronic communications: that paper production and use destroys forests, is a major contributor to climate change, consumes enormous amounts of water and generates excessive amounts of waste.
Myth: Using paper causes deforestation and destroys forests
In the United States, trees to make paper are grown, harvested and regrown using sustainable forest management practices that perpetuate infinitely renewable forestlands. In the United States, forests actually increased 18 million acres between 1990 and 2020. The production of paper products is a powerful economic engine and driving force in keeping U.S. lands forested. By providing a dependable market for responsibly grown fiber, the paper industry encourages landowners to manage their forestland instead of selling it for development or other non-forest uses.
Myth: Paper is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change
According to the most recent data available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the pulp and paper industry is responsible for only 0.5% of total annual U.S. GHG emissions. These very low emissions are due to decades of energy efficiency and process improvements at U.S paper mills, and to the fact that the U.S. paper industry generates two-thirds of the energy to manufacture its products using renewable, carbon-neutral fuels, primarily biomass. According to the EPA, the paper industry produces more carbon-neutral bioenergy than any other industrial sector, using mostly wood-based leftovers from the papermaking process. This bioenergy use prevents around 181 million metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year – roughly equivalent to removing 35 million cars from the road.
Myth: Paper manufacturing consumes enormous amounts of water
While it’s true that the paper industry uses large amounts of water to manufacture its products, most of that water is not consumed in the manufacturing process, according to the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI). NCASI reports that water used in the papermaking process is recycled up to 10 times in a typical paper mill, and then nearly 90% of that water is cleaned to meet federal and state clean water standards before it is returned to its source. Most of the remaining water evaporates back into the environment, with around 1% retained in the manufactured paper.
To read more myths about the paper industry that have been debunked, visit the following link: What Would Ben Franklin Do? - Two Sides North America (twosidesna.org)
Tell Us Your Stories!
Has your local done something amazing? Have you had a great solidarity action? Done something huge to help your community? Made significant connections with other labor groups? Is your Women of Steel or Next Gen committee making waves? Have you had success in bargaining, major accomplishments? We all stay so busy working to improve our workplaces and communities that we often do not take 5 minutes to reflect, share and celebrate our accomplishments.
Tell us your story so we can all be part of it! Contact Laura Donovan at ldonovan@usw.org, or at 412-562-2504.