The Finnish Paperworkers' Union issued a strike notice yesterday. It is considering a work stoppage at all UPM mills in Finland under the paper industry's collective labour agreement. The strike would begin on January 1 and end on January 22, unless an agreement is reached.
The forest products company and paper manufacturer says it will affect 10 production sites: UPM's Kymi, Pietarsaari and Kaukas pulp mills, UPM's Jämsänkoski, Kymi, Kaukas, Rauma and Tervasaari paper mills, UPM's Kaukas biorefinery and UPM's Raflatac mill in Tampere.
The point of contention is the new collective agreement to be reached. The union wants a single agreement, but UPM would only negotiate if there are five different agreements in the Group and on a completely new basis, the union says. In addition, UPM has reportedly announced that it will unilaterally change the terms and conditions of employment for its employees from January 1, 2022.
UPM responded to this announcement in a statement, through Riitta Savonlahti, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at UPM: "We have sent several invitations to the paper workers' union since last spring, but these invitations have not been accepted. The strike announcement is an exceptional procedure, as the announced strikes take place in companies where no negotiations have been started, with the exception of the UPM biorefinery in Lappeenranta. Thus, this notice is given before the negotiation objectives have been presented by both sides. In our view, the parties have a duty to do everything in their power to reach an agreement before resorting to strike action or an external conciliation process. However, that is not the case here."
UPM also says that since the strike is expected to affect essential services such as the operation and maintenance of water treatment plants and power plants it will pay a bonus to employees who attend to their duties during the strike.
Despite this call for a strike, UPM assures that it intends to maintain the dialogue.
And the group says that if the strike takes place, it will try to meet customer demand with supplies from its factories outside Finland whenever possible. The financial impact of a possible strike is not disclosed.
