Under the terms of the agreement Elanders, which has UK sites in Harrogate and North Tyneside, has guaranteed international employment standards at work and employees' rights to organise.

Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said: "This global agreement is another step in the process of building agreements with multinational business worldwide."

The deal was signed by Elanders president and chief executive Patrick Holm, Union Network International's (UNI) head of graphical sector Adriana Rosenzvaig and Tommy Anderson from Swedish printing union Grafiska.

Rosenzvaig said: "The co-operation with Elanders and their pro-worker attitude marks a turning-point in the printing industry and sets a model we are confident other companies will follow.

"We became a strong union and Elanders became a stronger company today because we are working together for the future of this company and the future of the industry."

The union delegation also included representatives from German union Verdi, UK-based Unite, US union Teamsters GCC, Polish union Solidarnost and Brazil's Fetigesp.

UNI is the global union for skills and services with 20m members in 900 unions, including more than 1m workers in the printing and packaging sector worldwide.