PORT ANGELES — Employees at the Nippon Paper Industries USA mill on Ediz Hook ratified a six-year contract Wednesday with a 68 percent yes vote.
The contract covers 172 workers through May 31, 2011, including a settlement for time worked under the previous contract that expired on May 31, 2005.
“Nobody ever gets everything he wants, but it was a respectable contract and respectable offer, and that was reflected in the vote,” said Marc Bozarth, a member of the four-person bargaining board for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Worker’s Local 155.
The board’s other members are Larry Brisbin, Rod Weekes and Frank Vervaart. All four are longtime mill employees.
Surveys distributed to local Nippon workers before negotiations identified health care, pensions and wages as the three top issues, Bozarth said.
Weekes said another issue that arose during negotiations was “work practice flexibility,” or the company’s ability to assign work.
