Raymond Edwards
June 27, 2025
Paula Lurene Allen
June 27, 2025
There won’t be a strike this time. Late last night, AWPPW Local 153 and Smurfit/WestRock ratified a five-year labor agreement.
The agreement, which affects about 800 workers, comes after 14 months of negotiations. The contract includes a 14.75% wage increase over its term. AWPPW Washington Area Representative Bill Sauters Jr. said, “While it’s not everything the union wanted, it’s a deal the members could ratify that preserves the Kaiser medical option through the term of the contract—something our members were adamant about because there aren’t many healthcare options in Longview.”
Sauters added, “We also preserved other benefits included in our contract that the employer was aggressively pursuing.”
The passing of this contract follows the union’s rejection of the first two offers, one in March and one in April. The prior contract that Local 153 had been working under had been in place for a decade.
