Sweden’s paper workers in overtime ban to support Finnish strikers

print this

Workers at ten paper mills in Sweden owned by Stora Enso began a two-day ban on overtime work on Monday. The move by Sweden’s Paper Workers Union was to support the Finnish Paperworkers’ Union, which began a two-day strike on Monday.
      No production problems were reported at Swedish paper mills on Monday evening. However, the ban on overtime means that it is more difficult to find replacements for those on sick leave. Therefore, a single absence due to illness could lead to the shutdown of a paper plant.
     
At the Skoghall paperboard plant run by Stora Enso, all employees interviewed said that they were happy to support the workers in Finland. The feeling went beyond mere solidarity: the Swedes are concerned about their own future as well.
      "We have the same employers in Finland and Sweden. There is a danger that the employers will make the same demands here if they get their way in Finland", said Peter Björndahl at the factory gates.
      "Companies merge across borders, industry and employers become more international, and the trade union movement needs to do the same."
      "It’s terrible what the employers are trying to do to the labour contract!" Göran Östlund chimed in.
      The Swedish workers were quick to add that they were quite pleased with the way Stora Enso - a corporation that was formed by a merger between the Finnish Enso and the Swedish Stora - treats them.
      Björn Berkeborg, chairman of the local union branch in Skoghall, was most concerned about the demands made by Finnish employers that the first two days of sick leave should be unpaid, and about calls to split the summer holiday into shorter segments.
     
If the conflict in Finland continues, a one-week overtime ban will take effect on May 25th at the Swedish factories of Metsä Tissue, M-Real, and Ahlström.
      "The trade union movement in Europe has probably never offered cross-border support as strongly as we are doing now", he says.
      Jan Moritz, personnel manager at Sweden’s Stora Enso, said that the conflict in Finland has nothing to do with Sweden. Nevertheless, Lennart Olovsson, contract secretary at the Swedish Paper Workers Union, has said that the union would be willing to call a strike, if necessary, to support the Finns.
      However, talk of a strike makes the men at the Skoghall factory gate stop and think.
      "A strike would not be an impossible idea", Östlund pondered. "I am not hoping for a strike, but if it comes, it will come", said Bengt Persson.
      The Swedish paper industry has not had a strike in decades.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Two-day strike shuts down entire Finnish pulp and paper industry (16.5.2005)
  SATURDAY UPDATE: Paper strike to begin Sunday (14.5.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat