Headline history: Harmac’s workers saved the mill from closure in 2008
It’s been 18 years since Nanaimo’s Harmac Pacific pulp mill shut down operations in May, 2008, after its parent company, Oregon-based Pope & Talbot, went bankrupt.
In recognition that Harmac had proven to be a profitable enterprise, its workers began a successful search to find private investors to align with them and take over the mill.
More than 200 Harmac employees contributed $25,000 each to help form a 25 per cent ownership stake through a new employee-ownership model along