Read this article in:
23 March, 2006
23 March 2006
Tony Burke, Assistance General Secretary
Willie Wallace, Amicus Aberdeen Branch
Ben Richards, International Officer
Amicus
35 King Street
Convent Garden
London WC2E 8JG
Dear Brothers Burke, Wallace, and Richards,
For two weeks now, the ICEM has been following the labour dispute brought on by the American company, International Paper Co., at the Inverurie Paper Mill in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, against trade union members of Amicus. We note on 10 March, workers voted by a four-to-one margin to take industrial action, and that the first wave of strike action will occur today, 23 March.
We also know that management has been intransigent at the bargaining table, particular on the issue of wage increases for 2006 and 2007. It is our understanding that paperworkers at this mill had to forego parts of their weekly pay over the past few years in order to contribute to a gap in the company’s pension scheme.
Now, International Paper is demanding that workers take a pay freeze for 2006, and take a miniscule one-off payment for 2007. With average 2006 pay increases in the British paper sector averaging nearly 2.5%, we find it deplorable that management would present such a pay offer, and further, we can only surmise that International Paper Co. is attempting to gain a competitive advantage in UK’s paper sector.
Amicus and its members at the Inverurie Paper Mill have the full support of the 20-million-member ICEM in this struggle for a fair and just pay award. We have, and will continue to alert our 389 global trade union affiliates of your justifiable industrial actions at the Inverurie Mill, and we convey to Amicus and its members at this paper facility the Solidarity and Unity of the ICEM’s global family of trade unions.
Please keep us informed of events in this dispute, and do not hesitate to call on the ICEM for any further assistance we can provide.
Fraternally,
Fred Higgs
General Secretary