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10 July, 2006
Some 200 workers at a paper mill and converter owned by Smurfit Kappa Packaging in Argentina are on strike over the company’s failure to pay a scheduled wage increase. The strike is at the company’s mill and converting operations in Bernal and Espora.
The workers, represented by a union affiliated to ICEM affiliate Federación de Obreros y Empleados de la Industria del Papel, Cartón y Químicos, struck because a 12% pay increase that was won in a long struggle after numerous social dialogue sessions with Smurfit has never been paid.
The company now is hiding behind the national work agreement in Argentina for the paper sector, and refuses to honour past commitments. Blas Juan Alari, Secretary General for Federación del Papel, told the ICEM that the early promises made to workers are an acquired right, and that workers are refusing to bend to the pressure by the company.