Correction on Appleton Inc.

In the September-October issue of the NCEO's newsletter for members (the Employee Ownership Report), I reported that 400 steelworkers at ESOP-owned Appleton Inc. (Appleton has approximately 3,000 employees) had gone on strike. That story was based on a news story, but it turns out the story was wrong (as was I to rely on it without additional checking). In fact, the union and the company reached a very amicable agreement before any strike. The union president stated in a news release after the agreement that the mill's union-represented workers always believed that an agreement could be reached. "While negotiations are never easy, we believed in our ability to get a fair contract and we did." Appleton was bought by an ESOP in 2001. The company has done exceptionally well since then, especially given the difficult environment for the paper industry in general.