Looks like the presentation by Bob Simpson of Freshwater Tissue's business plan is on hold. Instead, AWPPW President John Rhodes and VP Greg Pallesen will speak to the membership tomorrow at 4pm at the union hall. Next on the agenda is a vote on whether to sell the union hall.
You can check out the Pulp Mill's business plan at FreshwaterPulp.com.
8 hours ago
29 comments:
Well, he conned you into waiving your lien, has shown no real timeline for restarting the plant, and is selling equipment out the back door. Why would anyone be surprised that he has failed to keep his word? You may as well sell the hall, there will never be a reopening of that dinosaur. What a shame for the membership that the union didn't protect their interests while it had the chance. Many of those unpaid medical bills could have been handled with a sale of assets from that mill.
Did anyone else see the Channel 3 news the other day where Simpson was interviewed?
He said by the end of August, they must have a public support plan to provide them with $400M or they will begin liquidating the plant.
Richard, you are aware that actually quite a few former mill workers have found decent work, here in Humboldt County? I'm beginning to wonder if it will be you and just a handful of other former workers who repopulate this theoretical facility.
9:50pm-Actually not quite a few. I know of no one who has found comparable wages. Some have found jobs that are all right, not near what they had. I can give you stories of people who have been retrained and are now in the workforce making $15 an hour less than at the mill!
I put in for early retirement. I was in my 30th year at the mill.
No posts about the Orick mill being shut down Rich? Wish I was in that nice cool Eureka weather right now. 107 today and all I want to do is melt.
Rambo: I am in denial over another mill closure. Saw and talked to your brother at the Arcata fields tonight. In the 50's or lo 60's! I think Chris was wearing a coat! (He plays for TP tire in the Mad River Softball League.)
Richard, maybe you should take a look at the Arcata bulb farms. My understanding is that several former pulp employees are now working and getting benefits their.
10:20pm Yes, I think we have 5 former employees at the Bulb Farm.
A coat? What the hell is a coat? Oh well, he wont need that coat this week end. They are in redding to for some family function. I have had so many family members that worked and retired from the Orick Mill, makes me sad. I still remember when Simpson Mad River Ply went down. Hit close to home there too. Dad, Step Dad, Uncle or two and many family friends. Miss those days of the Camp Korbel summer Simpson picnic
Richard,
I was unable to address the Union because the union recently filed a complaint against Freshwater Tissue alleging the company was a successor to Evergreen Pulp complaints. Freshwater is now taking time and spending money to prove the claim is invalid. Interesting complaint given that we have never had a contract with the union and never operated one day! Was the decision to file this complaint representative of the union majority?
Until the complaint is settled, I am unable to meet with union employees. I suspect Tom Riley didn't share that with the union membership.
In spite of the desperate behavior of AWPPW local leadership, Freshwater remains committed to the AWPPW. For the record, Freshwater found the Peterson Chipper being hidden in Colusa by a former Evergreen employee and his partner that was received by the AWPPW in its settlement with Evergreen, we arranged to have the chipper hauled by Lester Giacomini to his yard in Ukiah, arranged to have Lester find a buyer for the chipper, and we extended an open door invitation to Tom Riley and AWPPW members as a means of keeping all members informed as to what we are doing.
We have not sold any equipment of significance since purchasing the facility. But we have cleaned up the foul mess left behind! Lastly, we offered every member the opportunity to come clean out your lockers and have a look around. To date, nobody has shown up!
Regards,
Bob Simpson
Bob Simpson
Mr. Simpson needs to explain why forklifts, clamptrucks $ Squeeze Trucks have been sold by the Freshwater Tissue. Plus potential buyers were coming into the mill to look/buy the 990 Cats, yet he says nothing has been sold. As for the lawsuit, it is to make sure that we receive the $300K for the medical if/when the mill starts up. Has nothing to do with successor. Employees have shown up to talk to Mr. Simpson, He needs to watch what he says when he is in the can. Lund told employees that Simpson was in a meeting. One employee used the restroom and heard Lund tell Simpson that he had a couple of employees wanting to talk to him but were told he was in a meeting. Simpson's reply was "Oh Well". I think the only one desperate is Mr. Simpson.
Bob Simpson
You need to come clean!!! Are you doing the same that you did at the sawmill? Is the Pulpmill going to open or what? Quit jerking everyone around!!
Gentlemen,
First,if you choose to communicate via email then show some mutual respect, and provide your name so that everyone knows who you are. I will do my best to provide you direct answers.
With regards to employess coming to the mill, FTC continues to have an open door policy. To the best of my memory, I have seen Richard Marks and Bob Weatherby. The situation referred to in a prior email when I was unable to meet with two employees, one of which was Bob Weatherby, I had conference calls scheduled all morning with investment bankers. I did not have the time to meet with anyone that day.
With regards to selling equipment, I stated we had not sold any equipment of significance. I stand by my prior statement. We are attempting to sell the two Cat 990 loaders. If we raise the necessary funding to re-open the mill, then we intend to modernize the chip dump and we will no longer need the two loaders. Please review the diagram provided to Richard Marks and you will see the intended changes.
It is difficult to finance a $400 million operation during the current economic recession. We asked Congressman Thompson to help us obtain a Federal Loan Guarantee. Greg Palleson was present during that meeting. Mr. Thompson stated he had no mechanism to provide a guarantee.
We have been unsuccessful in trying to raise debt or equity with institutional banks and investment bankers. We have been unable to find a strategic partner. Large companies, such as GP, IP, Kimberly-Clarke, and Proctor & Gamble, all of which have been contacted, stated they were not interested in additional pulp or tissue capacity in the United States. One stated they didn't want to be U.S. cellulose dependent.
We are currently having discussions with CalPERS, who manage the State Retirement fund. Unfortunately, we are not in control of when CalPERS will answer, or what their answer will be.
Lastly, Freshwater has not "jerked" anyone around. I suppose if I were sitting in the bleachers eating popcorn and watching the ball game without any referance or prior knowledge of the rules of the game, or what happened in the first 8 innings, I might reach that conclusion I was being jerked around! Or in the case of the pulp mill workers, my team was losing and I couldn't understand why. Rather than focus on how the game is impacting you, why don't you get into the game and maybe we can pull this out in the bottom of the ninth inning? Sorry for the baseball analogy, but it seems fitting given this is Richard's blog!
Lastly, when Freshwater offered to provide $300,000 towards medical bills incurred by Evergreen Pulp; which for the record, FTC had no obligation to help, we conditioned our support on the mill being fully operational. That clause was inserted because we could not afford to take that obligation on unless we were up an running. I made that very clear to Tom Riley. From my perspective, the AWPPW is acting out of desperation because it doesn't know how to reach David Tsang.
Sincerely,
Bob Simpson
Bob Simpson,
Thank you for taking the time to come to Richard's blog and explain what is going on.
Bob: Thanks for answering some questions here. I agree that a direct e-mail to you would be a better forum than my blog. I choose not to monitor Samoasoftball closely and let anonymous posters say what is really on their minds.
The Peterson chipper was never HIDING David Tsang knew exactly where it was all along and when Tom Rielly called about the spare parts I gave him the location. The chipper was in Colusa because a contracted job had just finished.
Rick Steed
Rick,
WHat I have previously stated is the information received from David and Sam, and the act it took to get the chipper returned. Both David and Sam claimed they didn't know where the chipper was. They claimed they had asked you to return it. When we found it, we had to show a bill of sale before the owner of the garage would let us have it. Lastly, I am not attempting to serve as a Judge. I am simply stating what we were told and what occurred.
Regards,
Bob Simpson
It is called "TRUST" Mr. Simpson and I'm sorry to say there isn't any.I can't think of anything more than to be able to believe what you are saying to our local 49 membrship.I was there back in the 70's and 80's
Sincerely
Mel Carr
Employee # 13260
The fact is that the workers will get nothing, Simpson and his cronies will sell off everything there is to sell, and that has always been the plan. Does anyone really believe that the union pulled their lein for no reason? No, it is because Simpson came up with a phony timeline to give credence to his phony plan to restart. His hatred for unions is obvious. I notice that he didn't address his statement that he will liquidate the mill if no guarantee of funding comes by the end of the month. What a joke.
Kohl's is hiring. Sorry about the decrease in wages.
Quick Question for everyone:
Why would have Bob and others have wasted their time and expense creating a mill website, drafting up plans for expansion, as well as meeting with politicians, when they could have just as well of liquidated the entire mill at the time they bought it?
Really now, just how valuable is this mill equipment while it is not in operation?
In these economic times, I can not even imagine how difficult it could be to now find investors, especially when more pulp and paper manufacturing is going over to Asia.
Why did Bernie Madoff create account statements and tons of paper that proved his investment company was legitimate? Ans: To look honest and attract more investors.
The value of the mill equipment is paltry in comparison to the investment money that the "tissue company" is trying to attract. You gotta be willing to give up perfectly good "bait" fish to attract the big ones.
Do you really think if this was some sort of scam that the United Brotherhood of Carpenter's would have gotten involved along with arranging a some form of a future meeting with the governor?
Yep, its not a classic "scam" its just a half baked idea that depends on a "bigger fool" for it to happen because it won't be profitable on its own.
And just because some union is pitching for jobs doesn't mean they endorse it. Like those pics of Bill Clinton and Dubya took with Madoff don't mean they knew about or approved his ponzi scheme.
And just how much union money is being committed to this project? My guess is zero unless the Government guarantees that they'll get it back.
Maybe this article in the Times explains the Carpenters Union interest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/nyregion/06indict.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/nyregion/06indicthttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/nyregion/06indict
This link doesn't work........please try again. I would appreciate it.
Richard,
I am very grateful for the support received from the Carpenter's Union, John Rhodes and Greg Palleson. We are equally appreciative for the support received from environmental NGO's, and each of the supporters mentioned in our business support section.
Our vision is Red, White, Blue & Green. Whether you are a Union worker, an environmental advocate, a politician, a banker, or a grocer, we must work together to stop the exportation of jobs and pollution to developing countries.
Freshwater believes it is irresponsible to export pollution to developing countries and pretend we have some how protected the environment! The economic consequences of this prolonged action are increased unemployment and declining family income.
With all due respect to citizens of foreign countries, we choose to protect the Coastal Redwood Region, utilize coastal redwood forest residuals, provide family wage jobs, employ U.S. citizens, eliminate pollution, and consume eco-friendly U.S. manufactured toilet paper.
Political leaders, whether you are democrat, republican or green party members, you were elected to represent the citizens of California and the best interests of the United States. I encourage you to show leadership by dropping parisan politics and focusing on saving U.S. jobs and protecting our environment.
Regards,
Bob Simpson
A simple question.
If this is such a great, profitable idea why do you need to go cap in hand to the govt. Why aren't there investors that want a piece of the profit? I think that the fact that you were turned down for the stimulus money speaks volumes. I amk sure that your buddies in the Sierra club must know people that want to see such an enviromentally friendly, money making machine get off the ground. What a joke.
Freshwater did not ask for stimulus money. The company met with Congressman Thompson to request a Federal loan guarantee.
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