Different countries but it’s the same old Georgia Pacific

“In a global economy, we cannot have a local approach to bargaining,” International vice president Jon Geenen told members of the GP union council in Pittsburgh on April 28. As part of the USW’s continuing efforts to share information on the working conditions at GP locations in other countries, Craig Foster, an assistant operator and union rep in a de-ink plant in Manchester, England spoke with GP local union leaders.

“We have the same problems in the United Kingdom (UK) as you have,” said Foster, a member of Unite the Union. “GP has 1,260 employees at four manufacturing sites in the UK.” After shutting down a part of one plant, the company is bringing paper into the UK from a GP mill in Spain, he reported.

Working 12-hour shifts, Unite members at GP sites work 1,776 hours a year, meaning that they are off work one-half of the year. Earnings average £27,000 ($54,000) a year but the cost-of-living keeps raising. While a gallon of gas is nearing $4 in the U.S.,it is cost the equivalent of $2.18 a liter or $8 a gallon in the UK.

During recent wage talks Foster said, “The company offered a zero wage increase. We told them we would strike.

“Then the company offered two percent,” he said. “We explained how prices were going up but we took the offer to the membership for a vote. It was rejected by 77 percent.

“Finally, the company came back with a three percent offer and we are recommending acceptance to our members,” Foster said.

Unite’s members vote on the offer on May 7.

The USW and Unite the Union of the UK and Ireland are in discussions to merge. If the merger succeeds, it will create the largest industrial union in the world.