In mid-December bargaining in the corrugated paperboard industry concluded, with negotiators for the Unite and GMB unions coming to wage terms with the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI). The CPI, representing major corrugated boxboard and packaging employers at some 50 plants mainly belonging to D.S. Smith, SmurfitKappa and SAICA, agreed to raise their wage offer from 2.1% to 2.5%. The offer, if accepted by members from the two unions in January, will be retroactive to 1 September 2010, the date a prior one-year accord expired. Unite National Officer Peter Ellis said the tentative settlement falls into the upper level of median pay awards in all industries, and Unite’s bargaining panel will strongly recommend acceptance. Bargaining started in July, but became bogged down in October when CPI offered a pay hike of less than half of the consumer price index.
English: http://www.icem.org/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4180-UK’s-Unite-GMB …
For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.