BUCKSPORT (AP) – Four unions at International Paper Co. in Bucksport have agreed to accept contract concessions that they hope will avert job losses and ensure continued operations at the mill.

Union and community members have been concerned that IP might shut down two of the four machines at the mill, whose work force now numbers about 900.

To keep the two older machines in service, the unions agreed to a concession package that would save the company an estimated $3.5 million a year.

The givebacks reportedly involve forgoing a 21/2 percent wage increase scheduled to take effect in May as well as changes in the health care package.

Three of the four unions involved in the negotiations approved the concessions in voting last week. The fourth union, Local 1821 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, voted Monday to approve the deal.

“We’re hoping to keep this a four-machine mill,” said Kendall Dunbar, president of Local 1821.

Workers at the two locals of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local, voted Thursday and Friday to approve the changes.

The company said the contract changes would help to keep the mill competitive in a challenging market.

The votes amend the existing contract, which was scheduled to expire April 30, 2005, extending it until July 31, 2007. The millworkers agreed to wage and benefits concessions that were included in the existing contract. The changes will take effect March 1.

“This is nothing but good for the workers,” Don Sorey, vice president of PACE Local 261 said Monday. “If we had negotiated in 2005, we would have lost a lot more. They (the mill) needed something now. This does protect job security.”

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