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16 November, 2005ICEM News Release No. 25/2005
Trade Union delegates to the ICEM’s quadrennial World Conference for the Pulp and Paper Industries vowed to continue building links of solidarity between unions in this sector.
The conference, held in Brussels, Belgium, from 15 to16 November, was attended by 65 trade union leaders from pulp and paper unions in 17 countries, and produced a five-point action plan to be implemented over the next four years.
“This conference came at the right time in an industry facing difficult business conditions,” said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. “Unions in the paper industry this year have responded with resounding solidarity to each other when faced with employer attacks. We intend to build and strengthen these efforts.”
The conference opened with reports on the unprecedented solidarity actions across the industry this year. First and foremost were product blockades and sympathy strikes in Nordic countries as well as across Europe in defence of Finnish paperworkers, some 25,000 of whom were locked out by Finland’s paper companies for six weeks in May and June. Another dispute—entwined with the lockout in Finland—occurred in the Canadian province of New Brunswick where 700 members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers Union there struck the global Finnish company UPM Kymmene in order to achieve the paper industry pattern agreement for eastern Canada.
Both disputes were won, in part due to the quick and efficient networking between trade unions within the same multinational companies in different countries. This networking was coordinated by ICEM and its sister federation, the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Federation (EMCEF).
The Brussels Declaration on the Pulp and Paper Sector states: “We recognise the current business difficulties in the global paper sector and the inevitable restructuring, affecting workers and their families.” But, the declaration added, pulp and paper companies must be advised “that continued International Trade Union Solidarity will be utilised to protect the interests of workers and their families in this difficult time in the global paper sector.”
This year’s Solidarity actions “lay the ground for further international networking in the Pulp and Paper Industry. Such actions clearly demonstrate the will of ICEM global trade union affiliates … to use International Solidarity to resist harsh and inhumane attacks on workers and their collective bargaining agreements to achieve business goals.”
The five-point action plan for the next four years includes affiliates initiating dialogue and attempting to sign new Global Framework Agreements with companies in the sector, and adopting new and innovative networking methods to enhance Solidarity efforts. Affiliated trade unions in the sector will also fully join ICEM’s campaign against the abusive use on contract and agency labour, use vigilance to ensure responsible behaviour by companies on health, safety and the environment, and ensure that Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value is achieved, in addition to ending all gender-based discrimination in workplaces.
Jouko Ahonen (left) congratulated by Walter Zwierschutz, international secretary of Austria's Chemiegewerkschaft
Jouko Ahonen, president of Finland’s paperworkers’ union Paperiliitto, was elected on 16 November as chairman of ICEM’s Pulp and Paper Sector to a four-year term.
For the text of the adopted declaration, click here
For more information on this conference, including background documents and presentations, click here.