23 September, 2015Shop stewards and trade union representatives of workers at the SAPPI paper company continue building international unity, and decide to work towards establishing a global framework agreement with the multinational paper company.
The Sappi Global Network met on 2-4 September in Hannover, Germany. Trade union representatives from the USA, South Africa, Finland, Belgium, Austria and Germany took part in the meeting. Wolfgang Kamedler, the president of the Sappi EWC, also joined the action.
The participants discussed the economic situation of the pulp and paper sector in the respective countries as well as the situation specifically at Sappi mills. There was a special session on the upcoming innovations in the industry.
This was the third meeting of the global network of unions at Sappi, the South African paper company that employs approximately 13,500 employees in over 20 countries.
All participants underlined the importance of the forum that brings together unions from different continents to share and draw their experiences with the company.
The issue of precarious work affects the Sappi employees in Europe and South Africa. Analysis was carried out on research done by IndustriALL Global Union on the issue of precarious work throughout the network. This issue does not affect the workers in the USA as much as in the mills where Sappi operates in Europe and South Africa.
The most important topic of the discussions was a possible signing of a Global Framework Agreement with the Sappi management. After long discussions and debates the participants confirmed the necessity of such an agreement with Sappi. In their annual report and Report on Sustainability the company underlines the importance of having good relations with trade unions and it gives the network a chance to come out with a proposal to sign the GFA. This proposal was supported by the EWC President W. Kamedler who has contacted the Company management and fixed the date for the meeting with Sappi CEO-Europe.
Peter Schuld from IG BCE continues as Chair of the network.
The participants visited one of the Sappi mills located in Alfeld, 40 km from Hannover.
The next global meeting will take place in the USA in 2016.