The GCIU and unions from around the world with members in the graphical and paper industries forged closer ties and stronger bonds this spring.

The GCIU affiliated with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which represents 20 million workers in 115 nations.

"We are very pleased to join the ICEM at the time of increasing globalization in the paper sector," said GCIU Pres. George Tedeschi. "The ICEM is uniquely situated o mobilize international solidarity on behalf of our members in this important industry."

In March, Tedeschi and other GCIU leaders participated in an unprecedented meeting of graphical and paper union leaders in Washington, D.C. In addition to the United States and Canada, union leaders came from Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and United Kingdom.

The meeting was jointly sponsored by the ICEM and the graphical sector of Union Network International (UNI), a global federation of graphical, communication, and services industry unions.

The unions agreed to build global trade union networks at four multinational companies in the paper, packaging, and graphical industries. The companies are: Finland-based Huhtam„ki; Ireland-based Jefferson Smurfit Group plc and its affiliated company Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.; Canada-based Quebecor Inc.; and Sweden-based Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget. The four companies combined employ some 170,000 people in more than 40 nations around the world.

The global networks will provide workers in these companies the opportunity to share information and experiences, build international union solidarity, and develop new tools for unions to contend with the challenges of globalization, the ICEM said.

Expressing concern about multinational companies' uneven record on the right to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining, the union representatives agreed to take joint action to ensure that workers' rights are respected everywhere in the world that the companies conduct business.

Kenneth Zinn, ICEM's North American regional coordinator, said that multinationals "cross borders for their interests and the labor movement has to respond in kind to protect our members from the ravages of globalization."

Following up on the Smurfit network project, GCIU Vice Pres. Duncan K. Brown joined leaders of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) and the Communications, Energy and Paper Workers Union of Canada (CEP) for meetings in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Hosted by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union in Ireland and by the Graphical, Paper and Media Union in the United Kingdom, the union leaders from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France pledged to continue efforts to bring Smurfit unions from other nations into the network and to make plans for a global conference of Smurfit unions.

The strengthened solidarity is already paying off, said GCIU Vice Pres. Leonard E. Adams, who led negotiations for the GCIU at a Smurfit-Stone Container packaging facility in St. Louis.

"Management tried to force concessions onto our members," Adams said. "But due to the strong stand taken by our members and valuable information provided to us by the ICEM, we were able to resist management's demands for givebacks and came out with a decent agreement."

In April, GCIU leaders joined leaders from 20 other unions in 11 countries on five continents in Nashville, Tenn., to discuss International Paper, the world's largest paper company. IP employs 100,000 people and operates in 22 countries, with sales last year exceeding $26 billion.

Toward the goal "to advance and protect the interests of IP employees worldwide," the meeting was co-sponsored by ICEM and PACE.

PACE Pres. Boyd Young said this "global union network is a strong step forward in dealing with this multinational employer and will allow unions around the world to work together in common cause."

In addition to the United States and Canada, union leaders at the Nashville meeting came from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, France, Korea, New Zealand, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

PACE Vice Pres. Donald L. Langham, who was elected to chair the new ICEM Global Network of IP Unions, said "IP crosses national borders in search of the highest profits, and the unions present here have resolved to match that corporate globalization with a globalization of workers' solidarity."

At the meeting, the unions expressed strong support for GCIU, Machinists, and Teamsters members at IP's Clifton, N.J., cosmetics packaging plant who were then on strike. Four days after the union conference, IP and the unions reached an agreement that did not contain the concessions that IP demanded but did include wage increases and other improvements that the workers sought.

At the international union meeting in Washington are, from left: GCIU Secy.-Treas. Gerald H. Deneau and Vice Presidents Leonard E. Adams, Lawrence Martinez, and Duncan K. Brown.