The shipbuilding company Aker is actively recruiting employees of the Voikkaa paper mill, who were informed in March that they would lose their jobs.
The entire staff of the Voikkaa plant in Kuusankoski were told by the owner UPM that the facility would shut down.
The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) reported on Wednesday that Aker had arranged a recruitment event in Voikkaa on Wednesday aimed at persuading the future unemployed to come to work at the Aker shipyard in Turku.
Aker is recruiting 370 new employees this year, made up of around 120 office staff and 250 workers, for example skilled welders. According to Marko Konu, SVP Human Resources for Aker's Finnish yards, the shipbuilding industry could offer work even for thousands over the next few years, owing to the combination of full order-books and the impending retirement of the large baby-boomer age-cohort.
UPM has offered the employees who are losing their jobs significant severance benefits. The workers are entitled to their regular pay even if they take part in Aker's personnel training during the severance period.
The paper company has also agreed to pay the costs of relocation, as well as an amount of money equivalent to a month's wages to help the workers settle in a new community.
