30 November, 2009
The Third Congress of Sindicato Nacional dos Papeleiros (SINAP), the ICEM pulp and paper union affiliate that is part of CNQ/CUT in Brazil, made great strides on gender equity over the weekend, including passage of a host of resolutions that clearly marks this union as the trend-setter in Latin America regarding involvement of women in all aspects of national and local branch work.
Some 132 delegates from 20 local branches attended the benchmarking Congress, held in São Sebastião, São Paulo state, from 26-29 November. The Congress also saw a changing of the guard, with SINAP founder and President Iduigues Martins stepping down due to term limits and bring replaced by Carlos Monteiro, SINAP’s international officer who has led a union branch in Bahia state.
New SINAP President Carlos Monteiro speaks to Congress. At right, Outgoing President Iduigues Martins
Martins has provided the union with steady and reliable leadership for the better part of ten years, growing the union with assistance from pulp and paper unions in Canada, Sweden, and Finland. He will remain on the Executive Committee of the union.
The Congress elected “Caco” Claudecir Lopes Vargas to serve as Vice President. He is from the local branch of SINAP workers at Otacilio Costa in Santa Catalina state.
But the story of the Congress was the progressive corner turned mandating enhanced and immediate gender equity inside the union. The Congress passed no fewer than seven resolutions mandating such, including one motion that called for SINAP to strive for at least 30% women involvement in all structures, both national and local branches.
Women's rights Won the Day
The Congress created a national gender committee, to be composed of one woman from each of the SINAP’s 20 branches. A resolution was enacted mandating that women would serve on local branch bargaining committees.
Another called for a fight for more community maternity centres and day-care facilities for children. And yet another called on the publication of a gender primer for use inside SINAP, as well changes in all union print and statutory materials to make then gender neutral.
Of further significance, and again a milestone for any Latin-based trade union, the committee’s name that brought forward these motions was called the “Gender and LGBT Committee,” or lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-sexual.
Finnish Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen
Perhaps the most emotionally debated resolution came on the Congress’s final day, yesterday, 29 November. That was a motion for SINAP not to endorse racial quotas in Brazilian society. The motion was narrowly defeated, thus putting the union firmly on record in support of racial equality in Brazil.
The SINAP Congress also moved to create a minimum national wage for paperworkers in the country.
SINAP’s Third Congress was attended by several international guests, who pledged their continued support and solidarity, including Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland and chairman of ICEM’s Pulp and Paper Sector; Dave Coles, President of the Canadian Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers (CEP) Union, and Joe Gargiso, Administrative Vice President of CEP from Quebec; Walter Silva, President of the CUOPyC Pulp and Paper Federation of Uruguay; Patrick Bauret of French CGT-FILPAC; and Mikke Sterbeck of Pappers Union in Sweden.