RUMFORD — Local 900 members at NewPage Corp. are expected to vote on a new contract next month. And just a few days before that action, the local mill will conduct its annual maintenance shutdown.

Local 900 President Matt Bean said union members will vote on a new contract all day on May 5. The current three-year contract expired June 30, 2010. He declined to offer any further details on the possible agreement.

Bean, and mill spokeswoman, Janet Hall, said management and union representatives have been in negotiations since prior to the expiration of the current contract. Hall declined to disclose the length of the proposed agreement, although she did say that it won’t be for three years.

This year’s maintenance shutdown, scheduled to start Sunday, April 24, through Sunday, May 1, is slightly different from those held most years. It is known as a cold outage when neither power nor water will be available at the mill, Bean said.

“Every so often a cold outage occurs to fix certain problems,” he said.

Many employees will undergo safety training during the shutdown. Others will take vacation time and some will take unpaid time off.

Hall said employees in a couple of the departments will be working extended hours.

Bean believes enough work exists to keep all employees busy during the shutdown.

The mill’s approximately 750 employees have been working full-time for the past year or so. The cogeneration plant at the mill was recently sold to ReEnergy Holdings LLC of Latham, N.Y. Currently, a power transmission plant is under construction at the mill.

The local mill is owned by NewPage Corp. of Miamisburg, Ohio. It is one of seven paper mills in this country and Canada owned by NewPage.

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