National Conciliator Juhani Salonius is to lend his hand in attempts to resolve the labour dispute between the Paperworkers' Union and the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
The two sides are scheduled to meet with Salonius in an attempt to move the long-stalled talks forward again.
As of late Monday it remained unclear if the two sides would seek a settlement among themselves, or if Salonius' unofficial help would be sought.
The Finnish Paperworkers' Union said that it might issue an official strike warning within a week or two if no other means are found to move forward. A ban on overtime work is already in force.
The workers have threatened to shut down a number of pulp and paper mills this week. This morning work stopped at the UPM installations in Pietarsaari, and at the Walki Wisa mill in Valkeakoski. On Wednesday morning the stoppage is to spread to other UPM factories.
When the UPM workers go back to work on Thursday morning, the next one-day stoppage would affect at all Stora Enso factories in Finland, and at the five pulp mills run by Metsä-Botnia.
The discussions with Salonius are not yet at the conciliation stage; the National Conciliator simply wants to apprise himself of the situation.
Talks aimed at reaching a contract in the paper industry have not made progress this spring. The previous contract expired at the end of March, at which time the Paperworkers' Union imposed a ban on overtime.
Paperworkers' Union chairman Jouko Ahonen has called for an external mediator to help unravel the dispute.
The union side says that negotiations have not made progress because the employers' side has refused to withdraw its demands for weakening the terms of the previous contract.
The main issue under dispute is the employers' call for ending the Christmas and Midsummer shutdown of factories, and for increasing the use of outside labour.
