LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Workers at Georgia-Pacific’s paper mill in northwest Oregon have voted to allow their union to call a strike against the company if contract talks bog down.
Union representative Gaylan Prescott told the Daily News of Longview, Wash., on Monday that United Steelworkers local 1097 “overwhelmingly” approved the strike authorization last week.
He says the union’s 900 members have been working under an expired contract since April 2010. The union voted down a company contract offer in January. The next talks are scheduled May 24.
Georgia-Pacific spokeswoman Kristi Ward said the company is offering workers a 6 percent wage increase over the four-year contract and a boost in pension benefits. She says the average Wauna union worker makes $70,000 a year.
