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25 May, 2011
The Pulp and Paper sector of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Union (ICEM) elected Jan-Henrik Sandberg, President of Sweden’s Paperworkers Union (Pappers), as chairman of the global sector. Sandberg replaces Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland, who will become the head officer for the Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (TP) on 1 June.
Sandberg’s nomination came from a work group meeting of Geneva-based ICEM’s Pulp and Paper sector on 23 May, and the election came on 25 May by the ICEM Executive Committee.
Sandberg, 52, has been President of 18,000-member Pappers since 2006. Prior to that, he worked for 17 years as a recovery boiler operator in the pulp mill of Korsnäs AB in Gävle, Sweden. He served as Pappers local branch chairman at Korsnäs in Gävle from 2001 to 2006 and previously served as education director of the branch union.
Ahonen had served as President of Paperiliitto since 2003. In his new duties with TP, he will oversee collective bargaining and industrial policy for 14 Finnish trade unions.
Both Ahonen and Sandberg steered their respective trade unions through pivotal and successful labour disputes in their countries, Ahonen in a 2005 industry-wide lockout in Finland and Sandberg in a 2010 strike by paperworkers across industry in Sweden.
The ICEM Pulp and Paper sector serves as the global coordinating and support-giving body for 90 trade unions across the world in the pulp, paper, and packaging industries. The ICEM is a global trade union federation representing 20 million workers in 132 countries.
For further information: Dick Blin, ICEM Pulp and Paper Officer, [email protected], +41 22 304 1842.