Ferndale had always set its clock by the whistle of the Nordale Paper Mill. For close to sixty years the mill had been the beating heart of this Quebec town of roughly 12,000, so the notice that went up in September landed like a thunderclap. Its owners were installing automated pulping and finishing lines, and half the payroll had to go, dropping the headcount from 840 workers to 420. Every one of the 420 whose shifts were vanishing received the same letter, which set out three ways forward: move to another mill, retire early, or take a single cash settlement. Roughly 100 said yes to a transfer and agreed to relocate to the firm's larger mill downriver. A further 150, most of them long-serving hands with the years behind them to qualify, are now tilting toward early retirement. For everyone else the company laid a cheque on the table worth about seven months' pay, an offer that loses much of its shine the moment people learn the taxman will reclaim nearly 40 percent of it. The rest are still weighing their options. Fearful of what lies ahead for the town, the council has thrown open a job-help centre.
Hélène Gagnon pulls no punches. She and her husband had been banking on a good five more years at the mill, and, sure that their jobs were rock solid, had let their spending run rather than setting anything by. Pulling up stakes is off the table, she insists: rents near the other mill run far higher, and a move would only drag her family back under a mountain of debt. "Three choices, they call it," she scoffs, "but at our age not a single one of them adds up."
