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The end to bitter strikes by 4,000 members of Ammattiliitto Pro against Finnish paper producers came to an end last week, 18 May. After six weeks of tension, the union and the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) came to terms over a second-year wage renewal. 
 
The ICEM white-collar affiliate in Finland won an across-the-board national salary increase, something FFIF had denied at the outset, but most importantly they narrowed the pay gap among the clerical, technical, and front-line managerial ranks of the pulp and paper industry. 
 
The 2011 national pay award, effective 19 May, is 1.5%, or &euro;48-per-month minimum, whichever is higher. The effect is to weight the package toward lower-wage clerical workers in order to narrow the pay gap. In the face of rampant administrative redundancies in the Finnish paper sector, these workers are working harder and taking on more responsibilities. 
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The government-mediated settlement calls for an additional 1% to be negotiated at the local level by 17 June. If talks on local issues such as training, development, skill requirements, and work tasks do not conclude by then, the 1% will be awarded on 1 July. Pro and FFIF also agreed to address and develop salary structures in the future in a more transparent direction. 
 
The union had been <a href="-Walkouts-Intensify-Because-of-Strike-Breaking due to strike-breaking">increasing strike pressure</a> and threats and intimidation in attempting to break a lawful overtime ban. Since early April, all Finnish-based companies were met with multiple strikes lasting up to two weeks and South-African-based Sappi was in the middle of a two-week strike last week when government mediator Esa Lonka finally succeeded in putting together a compromise. By last week, about 75% of white-collar staff in Finland&rsquo;s paper industry was on strike. 
 
Following the late night 18 May agreement, shift workers returned to their jobs at 6h00 on 21 May, while day workers returned today, 23 May. 
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Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen
Ammattiliitto Pro paper industry Chief Negotiator Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen said the solidarity among Pro members is reflected in the fact that the union was united in closing the pay gap between men and women. He said improved salary equality between men and women was a major accomplishment in the one-year agreement. 
 
Pro received widespread global labour attention to this bitter white-collar dispute and issued this statement: &ldquo;Pro and its members on strike have received many messages of solidarity during the strike. Pro wishes to thank everyone for these important messages, which served as a significant incentive in this difficult industrial action.&rdquo; 
 
A day after the Ammattiliitto Pro/FFIF settlement, government mediator Lonka crafted a compromise between the Media Sector of Industrial Union TEAM with Finnish print employers, preventing possible industrial actions.

Ammattiliitto Pro Cuts Gender Pay Gap in Finland Paper Agreement

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Today, the ICEM Presidium held its bi-annual meeting in Geneva, with the annual meeting of the Executive Committee scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, 24-25 May. The meetings are being held at the ILO. 
 
Besides presenting a Secretariat Report and preparations for ICEM&rsquo;s Fifth Statutory Congress, the decision-making bodies will receive an ICEM Action Plan for the Congress and beyond. The Action Plan will be a working document through to the Congress, scheduled for 24-26 November 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
 
On Wednesday afternoon, 25 May, the Executive Committees of ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Leather, Textile and Garment Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) will meet in joint session to review the integration progress. IMF and ITGLWF statutory bodies are also meeting separately in Geneva this week. 
 
The three Global Union Federations (GUF) have been conducting joint task force deliberations to explore integration and to lay the groundwork for it. The task force has met four times since September 2010, with the most recent meeting &ndash; in Frankfurt on 5 May &ndash; producing a tangible outline for a new and dynamic industrial GUF. In Frankfurt, Nordic trade unions stepped forward and offered Copenhagen as the site for a founding Congress, likely to be held in 2012.

ICEM Statutory Bodies Meet in Geneva this Week

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The ICEM Norwegian affiliate, IndustriEnergi (IE), announced on 1 May that Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, General Secretary of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), is the 2011 recipient of the Arthur Svensson International Award for Union Rights. 
 
Sae&rsquo;d becomes the second recipient of the Svensson Award. Wellington Chibebe, the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Trade Unions (ZCTU), won the award in 2010, which comes with a NOK 500,000 (&euro;60,000) cash prize. 
 
In selecting Sae&rsquo;d and the Palestinian national labour centre, IE said, &ldquo;PGTU fights for better understanding of the importance of union rights in the Palestinian self-government administration. They also work for Israel to stop the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the illegal settlements.&rdquo; 
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Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, General Secretary of the PGFTU
Some 30 individuals and organisation were nominated for the award in 2011, which will be presented at a dinner and ceremony in Oslo on 16 June. The award is named after Arthur Svensson, a leader of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association, which merged in 2006 with the Petroleum and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (NOPEF) to create IE. 
 
Svensson died in 2008, but left a legacy in Norway and beyond as a man who promoted global peace, disarmament, and a nuclear weapons-free world. 
 
Noting the fact that Shaher Sae&rsquo;d has been imprisoned a number of times, and his own safety and that of his family have been at risk several times, the selection committee said Sae&rsquo;d &ldquo;has shown outstanding leadership of the Palestinian trade union movement, while the political and financial framework has made this work especially difficult. 
 
&ldquo;The Palestinian people have fought against occupation, as well as an independent state for over 60 years. Under the leadership of Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, PGFTU has shown a will for dialogue and has refused to isolate any Palestinian groups, including Hamas. He has been open to a dialogue and cooperation with Histadrut, the organisation of trade unions in Israel.&rdquo;

Palestine’s Shaher Sae’d Winner of Norwegian Arthur Svensson Union Rights Award

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Fifteen United Steelworkers (USW) branches in 11 US states last week ratified a new master agreement with International Paper (IP) by a 73% vote count, the union announced. The four-year agreement covers 6,800 workers at 15 pulp and paper mills, and it now builds on a first master agreement covering multiple workplaces of IP that was achieved in August 2007. 
 
The agreement, to take effect in August, includes wage increases of 1% in 2011, 2% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2% effective on 31 August 2014. It also includes improvements in a defined benefit pension plan, and lump sum payments into an existing employee savings plan of US$1,000 each in 2012 and 2014. 
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USW Bargaining Committee
In addition, the agreement spells out stabilisation over health care costs, and provides job security, mainly through a &ldquo;successorship clause.&rdquo; That means that if IP sells any of the 15 mills, the new owner must retain all workers, recognise the USW as bargaining representative, and honour the collective agreement. 
USW Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads collective bargaining for the union in the pulp and paper sector, said the IP agreement continues a historic achievement. &ldquo;In the past,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;our locals bargained site by site, even though most companies approach bargaining as part of a national strategy.&rdquo; 
 
Geenen added: &ldquo;The success of our local unions here sets a precedent for bargaining in the rest of the industry.&rdquo;
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USW VP Jon Geenen
The agreement came together in late March and early April after nearly a year of planning and strategic meetings. It culminated in face-to-face discussions in New Orleans, Louisiana, early last month in which an 80-person USW bargaining committee participated. &ldquo;One of the main benefits of all the locals bargaining together at the same time is that everyone gets a voice in shaping the package,&rdquo; said Geenen. 
 
The USW has a similar master accord with IP in the paper converting industry, covering 2,800 workers at 32 paper-converting plants of the company in 18 US states. The first master agreement in converting came into effect in 2008 and expires in 2012.

Steelworkers Renew Master Labour Pact with International Paper in US

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The ILO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are teaming &ndash; together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg &ndash; to jointly host a conference to explore ways to leverage job growth as a recovery stimulus to the economic crisis. The conference will be held 13 September in Oslo. 
 
Participating in the conference will be Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreau, Spanish Prime Minister Jos&eacute; Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, British Secretary of State for Labour Iain Duncan Smith, and Sharon Burrow, the new General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
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Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the ILO, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF Managing Director, will co-chair the conference. 
 
The conference occurs at a time the outlook for global employment continues to worsen. According to current ILO estimates, recorded global unemployment is at 210 million people, an increase of 34 million since the outset of the most recent global financial crisis. 
 
Prime Minister Stoltenberg termed the conference an opportunity to explore ways to improve the quality of life and work for the millions of people affected by the financial crisis.

ILO, Monetary Fund to Host Jobs, Sustainability Conference in Norway

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The most dangerous country for trade unionists saw yet another assassination, 12 August, when Luis German Restrepo Maldonado, President of the Colombian packers&rsquo; union Sintraempaques, was shot in the head outside a caf&eacute; in public, in the city of Medellin, by a hit man who evaded arrest. 
 
Prominent trade union leader Maldonado was 58 years old and had spent 40 years representing workers in the central Colombian district of Antioquia. 
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Assassinated Luis German Restrepo Maldonado
Maldonado also served the Colombian national centre CGT, as treasurer of the Antioquia region. The National Executive Committee of the CGT, led by Julio G&oacute;mez Esguerra, condemned the brutal attack, and expressed its solidarity to the family. The CGT added that it &ldquo;will not be cornered by these acts of violence&rdquo;. It has become expected in Colombia that crimes against trade unionists are not properly investigated, with the perpetrator almost never brought to justice. The CGT has demanded that this trend does not continue. 
 
This latest murder again brings into question the decision to remove Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses, by the ILO&rsquo;s Committee on the Application of Standards, in June this year. 
 
The murdered trade unionist is survived by five children, Freddy, Lisette, Veronica, Juan Carlos, and Luis Herman.

Colombian Trade Union President Assassinated

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Mexico&rsquo;s Los Mineros won a legal victory on 11 August, in their struggle at Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Cananea copper mine, as the Ninth District Judge in the state of Sonora ruled that the strike is still in legal existence. The Cananea strike, three years old last 30 July, was attacked with police force on 6 June, forcibly evicting strikers from the installations, where 3,000 federal police remain now. The large police presence protects strikebreakers at Cananea, as Grupo Mexico seeks to reopen the mine by the end of 2010. 
 
The constitutional appeal of Los Mineros resulted in admissions of both the Mexican Attorney General&rsquo;s office, and the Federal Secretary of Public Security that police had been deployed to the mine on 6 June to carry out inspections under a ministerial order. As the mine inspection had already been completed, police had no legal right to enter the mine facilities, or remove strikers. An eviction order from the judicial authority never existed. 
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Federal police violently take control at Cananea, 6 June 
Photo - IMF
The United Steelworkers&rsquo; (USW) President Leo Gerard announced on 20 August solidarity action for Los Mineros in Cananea, with the USW placing a rotating team of international observers in the city to monitor the illegal police presence, who are intimidating strikers and protecting scabs. Gerard added that American volunteer workers arrived this weekend as observers. The rotating team will join the picket line, which is often 800-strong. 
 
Government support for the strikebreakers continues, with local authorities accused of cutting electric power to some of the strikers&rsquo; homes, in an effort to intimidate them. 
 
Grupo Mexico and Mexico&rsquo;s Labour Ministry have refused to accept the appeal ruling, stating that the union&rsquo;s contract remains suspended, and that the District Judge&rsquo;s decision has no effect as the eviction of the strikers has already occurred.

Pressure on Mexican Authorities as District Judge Rules Cananea Strike Legal

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European trade unions, led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), will stage a mobilization in central Brussels on 29 September protesting job loss and resulting service cuts due to austerity measures being imposed by governments. The date will coincide with a meeting of Europe&rsquo;s Finance Ministers in Europe&rsquo;s capital. 
 
In addition, Spanish trade union federations UGT and CC.OO have called a one-day strike across Spain on 29 September in protest to massive public-sector cuts and attacks on pension formulas and social services by the ruling Partido Socialista Obrero Espa&ntilde;ol (PSOE). 
 
The ETUC&rsquo;s Day of Action, entitled &ldquo;No to Austerity, Priority for Jobs and Growth,&rdquo; will manifest against proposed &euro;200 billion in overall cuts, which could result in 200,000 further job losses. The manifestation will take the side, for example, of Romanian trade unions which have futilely resisted pay cuts by as much as 25% on state workers. 
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The Day of Action is to resist European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet&rsquo;s call for an end to economic stimulus programmes and rigorous imposition of austerity measures across Europe. European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) General Secretary Carola Fischbach-Pyttel warned that &ldquo;as governments swing the austerity axe, they risk chopping off any green shoots of recovery, leaving workers, pensioners, and communities to face the prospect of an even longer recession.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM calls on its European affiliated trade unions to heed the ETUC&rsquo;s call and manifest on 29 September against the socially destructive austerity measures. In Brussels, some 25,000 trade unionists are expected to assemble that day at Gare Du Midi, the city&rsquo;s south railway station, at 11h30 and march to Parc du Cinquantenaire where a rally will be held beginning at 15h.

Trade Unions in Europe Plan 29 September Manifestation to Resist Austerity Measures

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The ICEM has been saddened by the worst flooding in Pakistan in over 80 years, which have hit all four Provinces of the country. More than 150 million people have been badly affected, as floods have destroyed homes and belongings, and taken an unknown death toll of at least 1,600, as entire villages have been washed away. 
 
There are already 4.6 million people homeless, at least 6 million in urgent need of food, and 5 million without access to clean water, meaning that disease is spreading fast. 
 
In a letter to Pakistani affiliates last week, General Secretary Manfred Warda offered the sincere condolences, on behalf of all ICEM members, to the victims and their families. We urge affiliates and supporters to provide all possible relief aid through international relief agencies in their home countries. 
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&ldquo;It is my sincere hope that the affected people overcome these terrible ordeals in the near future, with the support of the international community,&rdquo; stated Warda, &ldquo;We applaud all union members who are engaged in relief work for victims of the floods&rdquo;. 
 
Pakistan will be in need of continuing international aid, as the floods have destroyed crops throughout the agriculture-based economy, a food crisis is a real possibility. 
 
After a two-day session of the UN General Assembly last week, the amount of international aid pledged for Pakistani flood victims fell short at US$350 million of the US$460 million in emergency aid that the UN appealed for. The full figure of US$460 million would only cover the bare essentials for a period of three months. Billions of dollars would be needed to rebuild Pakistan following this disaster.

ICEM Saddened by Disastrous Floods in Pakistan

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In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the US, the United Steelworkers&rsquo; (USW) Paper Sector Bargaining Conference was held from 17-19 August, with some 500 local union leaders further refining a common negotiations agenda aimed at synchronizing working terms and conditions for 100,000 unionised paperworkers in North American. 
 
The conference also served as another springboard for Workers Uniting, the joint cooperative organization formed by the USW and Unite the Unite of the UK that is a registered trade union in four countries. Ten shop-floor trade union leaders from paper and printing plants in the UK attended, as did pulp and paper union leaders from Australia, Canada, Finland, Sweden, and South Africa. 
 
The conference took a hard look at management operated behavioral-based safety programmes compared to the preferable process safety alternatives, and the USW thoroughly analysed a comprehensive safety and health survey it did a year ago from among local unions of some 30 pulp and paper companies. 
<img alt="" src="" width="221" height="154" />
Linda Pollock, a shop-floor leader at HarperCollins book publishing in the UK and Unite member, addresses the USW paper conference 
But the main focus at the bi-annual conference was to shape common bargaining agenda, a process the union&rsquo;s pulp and paper leadership has honed in recent years in order to regain bargaining clout after decades of mill-by-mill bargaining in the US pulp and paper sector. Delegates did that last week through some 30 break-out sessions that brought local branches of the same company together. 
 
In one, the MeadWestvaco council of trade unions, USW trade unionists elected Iain Eid, a Unite activist from a MeadWestvaco packaging plant in the UK, as spokesperson, further cementing the trans-Atlantic Workers Uniting bond. 
 
USW Executive Vice President and ICEM Executive Committee Member Jon Geenen, who heads this sector for the union, opened the conference by reporting that since 2007, due to dire economic circumstances that have caused mill shutdowns, bankruptcies, and coupled with production offshoring in search of cheaper labour, the USW&rsquo;s largest industrial sector has lost 100,000 members, and dropped from holding 846 collective agreements to 750. 
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The global panel included Simon Mofokeng (right) of South Africa, who told of the victimization of union activists in his country by Sappi, and Fred Wilson (center) of CEP in Canada, who told how his union retained pattern bargaining in eastern Canada last spring
Despite this, the USW paper sector has achieved 17 master agreements in which partial framework terms are common within a company, and successfully negotiated successorship language for 50,000 workers. In the absence of adequate US labour law, this means that in the event of an asset sale of a mill or takeover of a company, the new employer must honour the collective agreement and retain the unionized workforce. 
 
Expanding successorship language in all collective agreements of the sector was one of 13 bargaining priorities formulated at the conference. Others include strengthening health and safety language based on recommendations made from the health and safety survey, called &ldquo;Papered Over: Safety and Health in US Paper Mills,&rdquo; contract term lengths of three years unless other circumstances prevail, and holding the line on 80/20 health insurance coverage, meaning employers pay 80% of health care premiums under the privatized US health care system. 
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Early this year, members of USW Local 1050 in Michigan at a Pratt/Visy paper plant wrote to workers at the Tumut mill of Visy in New South Wales, Australia, encouraging them to join the CFMEU. Alex Millar (left) presented the USW paper converting unit a flag signed by Australian paperworkers at Tumut who favour unionization. At center, USW District Two Assistant Director Art Kroll and Pratt/Visy unit chairman Mike Prins. At right, USW District Two Director Mike Bolton 
Other priorities relate to maintenance of defined benefit retirement plans, maintaining current vacation schemes, and addressing adequate staffing levels, a huge threat to safety in industrial settings where employers have been reluctant to re-hire workers when recovery and increased production begins. 
 
The conference heard from USW President Leo Gerard who told trade union leaders that America was at a crossroads in upcoming national mid-term elections. He said the US either continues on a path of people-friendly government initiatives now underway by President Barack Obama and Democrats, or a return to the regressive social policies of the Bush era. 
 
One panel during the conference featured union leaders from several paper-producing countries and their perspectives on future growth or decline, and trade union matters in their respective countries. That panel consisted of Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland; Christer Larsson, an economist for Pappers Union of Sweden; Fred Wilson, Executive Assistant to the President, Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada; Alex Millar, Federal Secretary of the Paperworkers Branch of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU); Simon Mofokeng, General Secretary of South Africa&rsquo;s Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa; and Peter Ellis, National Officer of the GMB.

USW’s Papermaking Sector Advancing Common Agenda for 100,000 Workers

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