Mediation efforts are continuing today in the labour dispute that has shut down Finland’s paper factories. Representatives of the Finnish Paperworkers’ Union and the Forest Industries Federation met at the offices of National Conciliator Juhani Salonius at 11:00 on Monday morning.
The Forest Industries Federation warned that if no agreement is reached in the dispute, the management side would extend the present lockout by two weeks. If that happens, other trade unions have indicated their willingness to support the paper workers with industrial action of their own.
The Paperworkers’ Union made a request to other unions for assistance last week. Lauri Ihalainen, the President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), invited the leaders of SAK-affiliated unions in industry and transport to a meeting on Monday morning to discuss the situation.
Decisions on possible solidarity action will be made by each union individually.
If the lockout continues, Finland’s remaining sawmills will have to close down, because the paper industry is not taking the wood chips that are a sawmill by-product, and storage space is limited.
In the last round of talks on Wednesday, the key sticking points - surrounding Midsummer and Christmas breaks in production and the use of outside labour - remained unresolved.
Social Democratic Party Secretary and candidate for the party’s leadership Eero Heinäluoma said on Sunday that he hopes that the government would consider intervention in the labour dispute.
Speaking at an SDP summer gathering in Oulu, Heinäluoma said that the government should consider taking action if the management side extends its lockout.
