The USW joined union members from across the world in October for the UNI Global Union’s Graphical and Packaging Sector Conference.
The group, which included members from more than 40 countries, met from Oct. 22 to 24 in Toledo, Spain, to address a number of issues and their effects on the packaging industry, including Brexit, and to discuss campaigns at multinational corporations such as WestRock and Kimberly-Clark.
The conference also held elections and welcomed several new board members, including the USW’s Luis Mendoza, who will represent North America.
The USW is a member of several global union coalitions, including UNI and IndustriALL, and works collectively with both groups to represent workers, set standards and organize campaigns around the globe. UNI represents more than 20 million workers from 150 countries.
Mendoza, who in January will become chair of the union’s paper sector bargaining, provided the conference with an update on the WestRock global network, established last year after the company made several acquisitions.