The situation is dragging on. The unions today informed UPM Forest Products that the strike at UPM's Finnish mills will be extended until March 12, 2022, unless an agreement is reached.
The strike, which involves the shutdown of all five UPM Communication Papers graphic paper mills, as well as UPM Pulp's three pulp mills, UPM Biofuels, UPM Specialty Papers and UPM Raflatac's packaging products mills, began on January 1, 2022. The major work stoppage affecting 3,000 employees was scheduled to end on January 22 before being extended twice already.
The point of contention is the Group's specific collective agreements, which expired on December 31. The unions want a single agreement, but UPM wants to have five agreements, one for each of its five divisions.
According to UPM, about 200 union members are currently responsible for the company's core tasks, such as maintaining the power plants and water treatment facilities.
At the same time, however, the Paperiliitto trade union announced that, with the support of the Confederation of Finnish Industry, these outsourced tasks were being suspended.
UPM does not wish to disclose estimates of the economic impact of the strike.
