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26 April, 2006
Paperworkers at International Paper (IP) Co.’s Inverurie Mill in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, voted by a three-to-one margin to accept a new two-year accord. The vote is a union victory, preventing the US-based paper giant from imposing harsh and unnecessary contract measures.
ICEM affiliate Amicus, which successfully negotiated the agreement, credited the solid resolve of workers at the printing and writing papers mill, as well as the ICEM’s IP Global Workers’ Network with the win.
After a series of industrial actions, which included four 4-hour strikes from 23 March to 6 April, International Paper moved from a pay freeze to agreeing to 2% wage increases, both in 2006 and 2007. The company also backed away from a proposal, inserted late into the negotiations, to only grant the 2% pay hike after workers ratified the agreement, with the 2007 raise kicking in a year later. Amicus succeeded in getting the 2006 pay raise backdated to the standard 1 January, with another 2% awarded on 1 January 2007.
“Our membership did a magnificent job in standing up to one of the biggest pulp and paper groups in the world,” said Amicus Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke. “We had instant solidarity throughout the world, not only from unions at other International Paper mills, but from paperworkers’ unions everywhere.” Burke added that Inverurie Mill workers were “energised” by such support, and that the industrial actions carved “fierce resistance” among workers, with 40 more workers electing to join the union during the dispute.
International Paper agreed to the non-concessionary terms on 11 April, two days before workers were set to escalate the dispute into an 8-hour strike. The vote was counted by Amicus in Aberdeenshire today.
Throughout the month-long industrial dispute, Amicus was publicly calling for outside mediation to bring the two parties together but IP management refused, preferring a “negotiations-by-ultimatum” style. Managers finally gave up that approach in day-long talks on 11 April, with the UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) participating.
“We appreciate the effort the ICEM put forward, as well as the efforts of all affiliated trade unions that showed such strong support,” said Burke. “The wage package, with it now backdated to January 1st, is a good result and it runs roughly in line with the current inflation rate in the UK.”
Upon hearing the bargaining result, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs congratulated Amicus and its membership at the Inverurie Mill. “The credit belongs with the workers and with their Union,” he said. “They stood strong and the ICEM is proud to have played a role in this successful outcome.”
For more background information on this dispute:
Eight-Hour Strike Next Week at International Paper’s Scottish Mill (ICEM InBrief - 6 April 2006)