The United Steelworkers (USW) kicked off a tour of South African trade union leaders of Sappi’s US paper mills by conducting a loud and demonstrative protest outside the company’s US offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Leaders from the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood & Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa joined workers from Sappi mills in the states of Maine, Michigan and Minnesota at the 8 May demonstration.

USW and Sappi are without current labour contracts at three of the company’s four US mills, and a contract at the fourth mill — Cloquet, Minnesota — expires today. Late last week, CEPPWAWU trade union leaders employed at Sappi mills in South Africa met with their US counterparts at mills in Skowhegan and Westbrook, Maine; Muskegon, Michigan; and in Cloquet.