UPM facility

Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 | 2:55 PM ET

Canadian Press: THE CANADIAN PRESS

MIRAMICHI, N.B. - Mill workers in northern New Brunswick want the provincial government to expropriate the UPM paper mill in Miramichi, and stop the company from cutting wood off Crown land.

About 150 former employees of the mill marched through the streets of Miramichi Wednesday, and plan to meet later with Premier Shawn Graham.

Some 540 people lost their jobs Monday, when UPM officials announced the mill would be closed permanently.

The company says the high value of the Canadian dollar has hurt exports and made the mill unprofitable.

UPM officials, who plan to remove the mill's equipment, refuse to sell to a competitor because they say there is a glut of product on the market.

Chris Allison, local president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, says the company is being hypocritical because it is still cutting wood from Crown land and selling it to competitors