Denver - A vote here by the executive board of the
Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union
(OCAW) to approve a merger deal between the OCAW and the
United Paperworkers International Union (UPIU) based in
Nashville set the two unions on track to merge in
January. The UPIU's executive board OK'd the agreement
last month.
"I am very proud of the work both unions have done
to make this merger possible. The two executive boards
and the various merger committees put in a lot of hours
to work out an agreement that is good for the members of
both unions. The combination will create a stronger, more
dynamic industrial union, whose top priorities are
service and organizing," said UPIU President Boyd Young.
"I commend the efforts of the executive boards and
merger committees of both unions. These efforts are never
easy, but we sincerely believe that this will serve as
the beginning of a great new opportunity for all of our
members," said OCAW President Robert Wages.
The OCAW and UPIU will hold simultaneous January
1998 conventions in Las Vegas to ratify the agreement.
The new 330,000-member union will be known as PACE, the
Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers
International Union. Its headquarters will be in
Nashville, and Young will be the merged organization's
president. Wages will take office as the executive vice
president.
"It has been nearly a year since our first formal
meeting," said UPIU Vice President Glenn Goss who chaired
the UPIU's merger committee. "We came a long way to get
this done, and I am looking forward to the conventions in
January," he added.
A merger between the two unions was first aired in
public as a possibility by Young at the Paperworkers'
1996 convention. After intensive discussions between
Young and Wages, both unions made the decision to go
forward with merger talks.
"For this merger the strengths are obvious to me,"
said Young. "We work in similar industries and have
similar employers. Many of our issues are the same.
Furthermore, each union brings unique strengths to the
table-strengths that complement one another."
The OCAW has taken a leadership role nationwide on
health and safety issues. In the mid-1980's the union
waged a comprehensive campaign to secure a fair labor
agreement against German chemical giant BASF, one of the
earliest successes of this then-novel union strategy.
Both unions have since applied such strategies, where
appropriate, with a high rate of success.
The UPIU is well-known for its leadership of the
nearly-successful effort in the late 1980's and early
1990's to enact legislation banning the permanent
replacement of striking workers. Both unions also
undertook key roles in the campaign that in 1995 brought
new leadership to the AFL-CIO.
In 1991 the UPIU merged with the Independent Workers
of North America, a union representing 8,000 workers in
the cement and gypsum industries. Then in 1994 the
Paperworkers merged with the 50,000-strong Allied
Industrial Workers, whose members work in auto parts and
a wide variety of other industries.
Employees in pulp and paper mills and paper
converting operations are the bulk of the UPIU's 250,000
members. The OCAW, with 80,000 members, represents
primarily workers in the oil, nuclear, chemical, and
pharmaceutical industries.