For as long as any one can remember, the pulp mill in Marathon, Ontario has provided free turkeys to mill retirees and their spouses each Christmas.

This year though, the seniors of Marathon were told not to expect their turkey.

To remain viable, the mill had some serious cost cutting to do this fall, including cutting the pay of its employees, cutting their benefits, and cutting out the Christmas turkeys of their pensioners.

All the seniors, about 125 households, were notified by a form letter that they would not be receiving their turkeys this Christmas.

88-year-old Edna Comeau said, “I didn‘t give it too much thought, initially. Then I said: ’How stingy can you get?‘”

Steelworkers Local 548 staff representative Herb Daniher said the local stepped in to buy the turkeys out of its own funds, not to make a point about the company‘s apparent decision to act like Scrooge, but out of respect for the former workers and their families.

“This is not about taking a turkey and sticking it up the company‘s nose,” Herb Daniher remarked.

Last week Edna Comeau opened her apartment door and was presented with her Christmas turkey. “I was very, very surprised,” Comeau said. “It was just very nice.”

Marathon Pulp is jointly owned by Quebec companies Kruger Inc. and the publicly-traded Tembec, which paid its CEO, James Lopez, about $1.1 million in salary and bonus in 2006. A seven-kilogram turkey costs about $20.

Source:
Union saves turkey program (The Chronicle Journal)