Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) has criticised former President Martti Ahtisaari for being a member of the Board of Directors of the paper company UPM.
Tuomioja has been sharply critical of UPM’s recent announcement that it would eliminate 3,000 jobs in order to save EUR 200 million in costs while preparing to buy nearly EUR 900 million worth of its own shares.
"I believe that this kind of corporate activity is not ethically sustainable. The same company recently had to pay a fine of EUR 60 million for being in a criminal cartel", Tuomioja said in an interview with the financial newspaper Taloussanomat.
Tuomioja recommends that the state hold on to companies in which it still is an owner. "The state can use its power as an owner on the basis of its own values", he says.
For UPM Tuomioja recommends closer cooperation with personnel, saying that by listening to employees and their organisations, the company could have found alternatives to the deep job cuts.
Tuomioja himself owns 6,500 UPM shares. He has said that he will sell the shares at the price at which they were quoted in early January.
