31 May, 2010
Dutch-Irish pulp and paper company SmurfitKappa withdrew a signed social agreement with ICEM affiliate FGTB on a redundancy package, after claiming managers at the Mettet paper converter in the Walloon region of Belgium were coerced into signing it. The company announced in February that is was closing the Cartomill plant near Namur, thus terminating 69 workers.
Late on 30 April and early 1 May, FGTB representatives and plant managers were negotiating the social package in the plant’s offices when, after several hours into the night, an agreement was reached on transition and education terms, as well a €30,000 per worker redundancy settlement. The company had originally offered only the Belgian minimum, €28,000.
But following the signing, plant managers conferred with corporate management and the decision was taken to invalidate the agreement, with Cartomills managers stating they were held against their will throughout the evening and forced to sign. Pascal Vivone of FGTB denies the assertion. “I do not understand how they can come up with that,” he said. “At no point did they indicate they were being held against their will.”
The two parties, nonetheless, are now continuing the dialogue to reach a fair and equitable settlement. Both sides have agreed to conduct the negotiations off site.
In another recent European paper dispute, the French unions – CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC – won favourable wage terms through industrial action against French paper producer ArgoWiggins. The pay package covers some 2,000 workers at six French mills. The settlement came after several two-hour work stoppages dating back to mid-April. Workers won 2% average pay increases that includes bonus entitlements. ArjoWiggins is owned by the private equity group Sequana Capital.