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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 14/2002
Meeting in Washington this week, senior officials from seventeen paper and graphical trade unions in eleven countries resolved to build global union networks at four multinational corporations.
The unprecedented meeting was jointly sponsored by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and UNI Graphical, both global trade union federations. The union leaders came from Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The unions agreed to build global trade union networks at four multinational companies in the paper, packaging and graphical industries - Finnish-based Huhtamäki, Irish-based Jefferson Smurfit Group plc and its affiliated company Smurfit Stone Container Corp, Canadian-based Quebecor Inc. and Swedish-based Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget. These companies employ approximately 170,000 people in over 40 countries around the world.
The unions agreed to form global union networks for workers to share information and experiences, build international union solidarity, and develop new tools for unions to contend with the challenges of globalisation.
The delegates expressed their concern about the uneven record of these and other multinational companies in their treatment of their employees' rights to organise unions and engage in collective bargaining, and agreed to take joint action to try to ensure that workers' rights are respected everywhere in the world that the companies conduct business.
The unprecedented meeting was jointly sponsored by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and UNI Graphical, both global trade union federations. The union leaders came from Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The unions agreed to build global trade union networks at four multinational companies in the paper, packaging and graphical industries - Finnish-based Huhtamäki, Irish-based Jefferson Smurfit Group plc and its affiliated company Smurfit Stone Container Corp, Canadian-based Quebecor Inc. and Swedish-based Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget. These companies employ approximately 170,000 people in over 40 countries around the world.
The unions agreed to form global union networks for workers to share information and experiences, build international union solidarity, and develop new tools for unions to contend with the challenges of globalisation.
The delegates expressed their concern about the uneven record of these and other multinational companies in their treatment of their employees' rights to organise unions and engage in collective bargaining, and agreed to take joint action to try to ensure that workers' rights are respected everywhere in the world that the companies conduct business.