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12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 71/1998
As organised labour combines its strengths, union mergers are on the increase worldwide. Big amalgamations in Japan and the USA are about to boost that trend.
Japanese chemical workers' federations Goka Roren and Zenkoku Kagaku will unite this October to form the new Kagaku League 21. (Kagaku means chemical). The merged federation will have about 96,000 members. It will be affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), of which Goka Roren is already a member.
In the USA yesterday, the executive board of the oil, chemical and atomic workers' OCAW approved a merger with the paper workers' UPIU. Both these American unions are ICEM affiliates. The UPIU executive gave the merger the go-ahead last month.
The OCAW and UPIU will hold simultaneous conventions in January to ratify the agreement. The new 330,000-member union will be known as PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union. Its headquarters will be Nashville.
PACE's President will be Boyd Young, currently President of the UPIU. OCAW President Robert Wages will take office as PACE's Executive Vice-President.
Japanese chemical workers' federations Goka Roren and Zenkoku Kagaku will unite this October to form the new Kagaku League 21. (Kagaku means chemical). The merged federation will have about 96,000 members. It will be affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), of which Goka Roren is already a member.
In the USA yesterday, the executive board of the oil, chemical and atomic workers' OCAW approved a merger with the paper workers' UPIU. Both these American unions are ICEM affiliates. The UPIU executive gave the merger the go-ahead last month.
The OCAW and UPIU will hold simultaneous conventions in January to ratify the agreement. The new 330,000-member union will be known as PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union. Its headquarters will be Nashville.
PACE's President will be Boyd Young, currently President of the UPIU. OCAW President Robert Wages will take office as PACE's Executive Vice-President.