Almost 2,000 paper workers have received a pay rise of 3% following negotiations between union figures and employer representatives.
Amicus members in the corrugated packaging sector of the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) this week voted to accept the pay award for 2006/7.
The ballot came after two days of talks, where representatives advised the union’s negotiating panel that the industry was in its ninth consecutive year of decline, showing a loss of £8.6m across CPI member companies.
Peter Ellis, Amicus national officer and lead negotiator of the three-union panel that included GMB and TGWU, said: “The negotiations took place against a backcloth of increased costs of raw materials and spiralling energy prices – and a market which is strongly resisting price rises.
“We have experienced closures this year and restructuring brought about by mergers has had its effect on jobs. Nevertheless, our members need at least to keep pace with inflation and this deal just about makes the grade,” he said.
