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Unite has called for greater cooperation across global unions in the paper and pulp sector with the goal of a merger.

Speaking at the fourth Congress of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke proposed that the ICEM start to coordinate collective bargaining in the pulp and paper sector and align policies on "pay bargaining, temporary and agency workers, health and safety, and recruitment and organising".

He said that opening up and centralising information would allow union networks to adopt a single message.

"It's a path set out for greater cooperation that we hope will lead to a merger between the big industrial global federations," Burke told printweek.com. "It's forward-thinking, but globalisation changes everything."

He said that better coordination and policy alignment would lead to greater efficiencies and effectiveness, especially at a time when the sectors represented by global unions are increasingly blurred.

"What we're saying is that there's got to be a tighter and unified structure to reduce duplication of effort with simplified and unified structures.

"We want the global union federations to use their resources efficiently and free up more resources to help unions recruit and organise and defend their members.

"We're not looking at downsizing – its about using our industrial and political strength strategically," he added.

Senior union representatives are to flesh out the idea next year, with a full report and recommendations presented at the ICEM Paper and Pulp Conference later in 2008.