Strikes to hit forest company UPM today and Thursday

Harald Finne

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Employees of the forest products company UPM will stop all of the company’s mills and plants in Finland for a day.
      The purpose of the action is to protest against the company’s personnel policy, which the employees feel goes against UPM’s values.
      Strike action at UPM begins today, Tuesday, when workers at the company’s sawmills and plywood plants walk off their jobs for a 24-hour stoppage.
      The pulp and paper strike begins on Thursday at six in the morning and ends Friday morning.
      A new feature in the action is that it will also be joined by about 300 clerical staff.
     
The trouble at UPM stems from the company’s efforts to rationalise operations at its sawmills and plywood factories.
      After negotiations were held recently with staff, the company’s management decided that 673 employees in the company’s wood products sector would have to go. About 200 of them will go on pension.
     
The strike by the Paperworkers’ Union is a show of solidarity for the wood product employees.
      A total of 3,500 employees will take part in the sawmill and plywood factory strike, and 7,500 employees will join the pulp and paper strike.
      UPM has denounced the strikes as illegal, and says that it will take the matter up with the Labour Court.
      The company says that the shutdown of paper mills and pulp factories will cost an estimated 10 million euros.
     
UPM personnel director Riitta Savonlahti says that the company is doing all it can to find new jobs and training for those whose jobs are being cut.
      "If a person is willing to relocate to another community, we will offer, among other things, a resettlement payment equivalent to a month’s pay", Savonlahti said.
      Harald Finne, managing director of UPM’s Wood Products division, says that the job cuts are needed to put the sector into shape.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Forest giant UPM to cut hundreds of jobs around Finland (29.10.2004)
  UPM employees threaten strike over severance package (13.10.2004)
  Forest industry giant UPM to eliminate hundreds of jobs (31.8.2004)

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