"Wake-up call" sparks strategy. (Iroquois Falls).Iroquois Falls is where AbitibiConsolidated Inc. got its start back in 1912. It has become the world's largest manufacturer of newsprint newsprint low grade paper used for newspapers. Old newspapers are fed to cattle as an alternative roughage and may occasionally be ingested by dogs. Significant amounts of lead are accumulated in tissues; no cases of poisoning have been recorded in cattle, though it has been , and Iroquois Falls is attempting to break free of its economic dependence on the company. The town's municipal and business leaders have always known the community's future was tied to the fortunes of Abitibi, unless something was done to diversify diversify To acquire a variety of assets that do not tend to change in value at the same time. To diversify a securities portfolio is to purchase different types of securities in different companies in unrelated industries. the economy. During the 1990s, it became apparent the mill was becoming less important to the company and Iroquois Falls was facing an enduring downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing of its major employer. It was in the face of these harsh realities Harsh Reality are a little-known, proto-prog band born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire out of the remnants of the Freightliner Blues Band (formerly the Revolution) in the early sixties. that a community development team was put in place in 1999 to address the problem, says Ken Graham, mayor of Iroquois Falls. A development co-ordinator was hired, and the community for the first time was looking beyond what was happening with Abitibi-Consolidated. Scores of citizens began working countless hours to diversify the economy and improve quality of life. It became a community-based approach with volunteer committees examining economic development opportunities with e-commerce, tourism and value-added forest products. Two years after establishing the community development team, residents received a swift reminder of their vulnerability. Abitibi Consolidated announced it was shutting down an 86-year-old paper machine, throwing 200 highly paid employees out of work. It is a familiar story for Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it where single-industry towns experience good times year after year and then are suddenly faced with devastatingly hard times. The machine was the smallest in Abitibi's entire international operations Internal Operations (I.O., IO or I/O) is a fictional American Intelligence Agency in Wildstorm comics. It was originally called International Operations. I.O. first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 (August, 1992) and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee. . The company indicated it had an objective of removing 400,000 tonnes of newsprint capacity. It had already removed 200,000 tonnes. At the time, there were about 550 employees working for Abitibi in Iroquois Falls, with an average wage of more than $50,000 per year. With half of the workforce losing their jobs, the region's economy was facing a loss of $10 million. It was also expected the town population would shrink from Verb 1. shrink from - avoid (one's assigned duties); "The derelict soldier shirked his duties" fiddle, shirk, goldbrick avoid - refrain from doing something; "She refrains from calling her therapist too often"; "He should avoid publishing his wife's 5,500 to 3,500. The company said its plans could be averted a·vert tr.v. a·vert·ed, a·vert·ing, a·verts 1. To turn away: avert one's eyes. 2. through a workforce reduction plan over three years, and major concessions that would eliminate the collective bargaining agreement The contractual agreement between an employer and a Labor Union that governs wages, hours, and working conditions for employees and which can be enforced against both the employer and the union for failure to comply with its terms. from everything but wages and benefits. After a couple of months of bargaining with the union representing workers at the mill, Abitibi agreed to keep the old specialtynewsprint machine operating. The agreement saw 40 jobs being eliminated immediately and another 75 eliminated over three years, mainly through retirement. Graham says the news about Abitibi's plans was an additional "wake-up call for the community," and a reminder that economic diversification was needed now more than ever. Since the fate of the paper machine has been decided, the community development team has been given breathing space and is moving ahead with a number of economic development and quality-of-life projects. www.iroquoisfalls.com |
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