The oldest trade union in Chile

Puente Alto, a south-eastern suburb of Santiago, in Chile, used to be a rural area where wheat was grown.

It was there that CMPC was founded in 1920. Seven years later, the Industrial Paper Union (Sindicato Industrial Papelero) was formed. It was the first in the company and after 90 years in existence is now the oldest union in Chile.

Those were the days of the recently enacted “Social Welfare Laws” and “Labor Statutes” that generated industrial tension. The nitrate mining bonanza was long gone and working conditions for many workers were borderline minimal.

The CMPC union – today called the Union Number One (Sindicato Número Uno Papeles Cordillera) met for the first time on the morning of September 25, 1927. According to the inaugural minutes, its first president was Nolasco Cabello, and there were 60 members who each paid union dues of $1 peso.

Many years have gone by since then. Today, CMPC negotiates with 53 trades unions in the eight countries where the company operates.

Over 12 thousand of the 17 thousand employees of the company are represented by one of these unions; an almost identical number of employees received some kind of training in 2017.

Moreover, in an effort to keep on improving working conditions and industrial relations, CMPC agreed to undergo the Great Place to Work evaluation. In this assessment, the company has been showing year on year improvement. In 2017 the company scored 79% – three percent higher than in 2016 – on Organizational Climate that measures elements such as “Pride”, “Trust” and “Respect” for the place of work. Two subsidiaries, Forestal Mininco and Forsac in Peru, achieved 91% and 88%, respectively.