Two-day protest strike shuts down Finnish pulp and paper mills

Walkout sparked by announcement of new job cuts

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A two-day protest strike at Finnish pulp and paper mills began on Monday. The action by the Paperworkers’ Union came in response to plans by UPM to cut altogether 2,557 jobs at its installations.
      Machinery was silent at pulp and paper mills except the UPM Voikkaa plant, which UPM has said it plans to shut down, and the Paanakoski unit of Stora Enso, which the company plans to sell.
      Union leader Jouko Ahonen emphasised that although the strike was sparked by job cuts planned by one company, the action targets the entire forest industry. Ahonen says that union members had been ready to take action earlier, saying that workers are tired of constant job cuts, and being bounced around.
      On Wednesday the two-day strike by factory workers will be followed by a protest strike by industry office workers. The Finnish Forest Industries Federation has warned that the strike would weaken the industry in Finland.
     
The decision to go on strike came on Friday, after UPM had reported the result of negotiations with personnel on upcoming job cuts.
      Ahonen noted that staff reductions are expected to continue in the industry, with a few hundred jobs expected to go among the blue-collar work force. About 1,000 white-collar employees in the pulp and paper industry are also expected to lose their jobs.
      Both the Paperworkers’ Union and the Union of Salaried Employees say that the industry is taking a tougher line on job cuts than before. Ahonen says that there would have been alternatives to job cuts, "if values in the forest industry had been right".
      "We are quickly losing the Winter War spirit."
     
Ahonen admits that the protest strike involves a certain amount of venting of bad feelings, but he says that the main reason for the action is to spark debate on the social responsibility of the forest industry.
      Ahonen also said that the job cuts are hurting the industry itself: young people will be less likely to seek employment in a field seen as uncertain. He also says that the action tends to erode the motivation of those who keep their jobs.
      He refuted the suggestion that generous labour contracts in Finland would be the cause of profitability problems in the industry. He says that "certain studies" by a working group on the future of the paper industry suggest that the ability to produce results in the domestic units of the Finnish paper industry is better than in foreign units of the same companies.
     
The decision to launch a protest strike came as a surprise to the industry, which denounced the action as an illegal strike. A year ago, a dispute over the labour contract in the forest industry led to a massive employer lockout.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Myllykoski Paper to reduce over 300 jobs (19.4.2006)
  Myllykoski Paper to start talks on cutting personnel (6.4.2006)
  Paper mill closure major blow to Kuusankoski (10.3.2006)
  UPM´s Jussi Pesonen´s earnings rose massively last year (14.3.2006)
  State representatives to discuss job cuts with UPM management (10.3.2006)
  Paper manufacturer UPM cutting thousands of jobs in Finland (9.3.2006)

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