IP Union News August 2009

Union Workers Discuss Workplace Issues, Solutions at Conference to Strengthen IP Mill and Converter Locals

Local union representatives from IP mills and converters from coast-to-coast met in Pittsburgh Aug. 4 to discuss progress, as well as problems in negotiations and other dealing with management. Union members got a crash course in the current economic situation facing the American paper industry. And USW members strengthen ties to allies such as the three-million member Workers Uniting labor union in the United Kingdom.

Led by Intl. Vice President Jon Geenen and Assistant to the President Leeann Anderson, IP union leaders talked about the value of the Framework Agreement worked out between union and management that has stabilized conditions of employment for workers even when the industry is going through an unstable period. Geenen noted that due to the efforts of IP members in gaining this Framework Agreement, this is the first economic downturn in which management has not gone after wages and benefits of hourly workers. USW President Leo Gerard spoke about the proven advantage of union solidarity in paper shops from coast to coast.

Key issues discussed at the conference included successfully holding back health care premium increases due to the master bargaining; critical Retiree Medical Savings Plan information, organizing efforts at non-union plants such as in Mansfield, La.; workplace hazard mapping as outlined by Edinburg, Texas Local 314; option for retiree medical coverage; bargaining support between locals; mobilization and visibility, and; strengthening our communications network. Representatives from the former Weyerhaeuser local unions held a special meeting at the conference to discuss issues having to do with their integration into the IP system.

Based on discussions and debate at the conference meeting, as well as recommendations from regional meetings, the group set the following top priorities:

• Continuing conference-wide phone calls with more detailed agendas sent out beforehand.
• Continuing monthly newsletter and improved shop floor distribution.
• Preparing for and develop guidelines for the next master agreement.
• Identifying problems, such as Sedgwick’s interpretation of our health care benefits and the company’s varying interpretations of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which need to be confronted on a system wide basis.

Union members from IP plants across the country met in Pittsburgh to discuss issues of importance back home, compare notes and strengthen bonds between plant workers at different mills and converters.

For more information about the IP Union Conference – seeking to strengthen, unite and advance the interests of union workers at International Paper – check out the conference web site: www.SolidarityatIP.org