Unite becomes 'super union' after transatlantic merger

The new union, to be called Workers Uniting, will represent nearly three million workers from every industrial sector, including packaging and paper, in Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada and the Caribbean.

Unite said the partnership would lead to "the synchronisation of collective bargaining in companies with operations on both sides of the Atlantic".

"Unite and USW will each continue with their national activities, but the global framework that they are now part of will bring them together over issues that go over national boundaries," a spokesman added.

Unite has 1.8m members in the UK, of whom 30,000 are in the packaging and paper sector. USW has 850,000 members and, despite its name, has more than 130,000 packaging and paper members. Common employers include SCA, Kimberly-Clark and MeadWestvaco.

Both bodies will retain their existing organisational structure, overseen by a steering committee with an equal number of officials from each.

Workers Uniting staff, including research, international affairs and communications specialists, will be led by an executive director who will have an initial budget of "several million dollars".