Heavy | The Finnish Paper Workers Union Reached An Agreement With UPM To Stop The Strike!

Heavy | The Finnish Paper Workers Union reached an agreement with UPM to stop the strike!

On Friday, April 22, the Finnish Paper Workers Union announced to mediator Leo Soma that it would unanimously approve the settlement proposal by UPM's five business operating units as a new company-specific collective agreement. The Finnish Paper Workers Union said UPM's related companies also accepted the settlement. The new agreement is valid for four years, from now until April 21, 2026.

The Finnish Paper Workers Union said the pay increase "follows the industry's common '2+2' model of renegotiating the pay increase after two years". “The main objective of the Finnish paper workers’ union in its negotiations was to keep working conditions in the industry consistent within the current model of company-specific agreements. For UPM, this objective was the most difficult to achieve. Essentially the outcome was what the employer demanded Extensive injury regulations, such as an increase in unpaid hours, or hours worked, have not been implemented."

The strike action at UPM's pulp and paper mills in Finland began on January 1 and lasted more than 110 days, culminating in a new proposal to resolve the strike on April 21. UPM stated that the specific business agreements to increase productivity are as follows:

UPM Pulp agreed to move the pulp mill to 365-day uninterrupted operation and to use labor more flexibly during long-term maintenance shutdowns. Removed restrictions on the use of fixed-term employees. Going forward, wage setting supports learning and competencies, as well as the development of workplace practices.

UPM Media Papers, which focuses on graphic paper business, agreed to increase working hours and use them flexibly, which are essential for smooth operations. Depending on the working hours pattern, working hours will increase by 24-32 hours per year, with the exception of day work, which will remain the same. With the shift in hourly wages, more hours worked correspondingly increased earnings. On a weekly level, the weekly working hours increase by about half an hour. In addition, an incentive remuneration system was agreed, especially for maintenance and routine work. The agreement includes a wage payment guarantee for the first two years of the contract period.

UPM Specialty Papers have agreed on terms to improve delivery competitiveness and reliability. The new collective labor agreement, which has also expanded the scope of local negotiations at the factory level, has improved the profitability of operations during public holidays. Compensation has been formulated to reward good performance better than before.

UPM Raflatac's collective labour agreement makes it possible to establish more flexible working schedules and the availability of resources at the Tampere plant. As such, the new agreement paves the way for increased capacity utilization, increased productivity and job creation.

UPM Biofuels Lappeenranta Biorefinery agrees to flexible use of shift and shift work training. The compensation structure supports personal development and good performance better than before. In addition, the parties have agreed arrangements to keep the refinery in a production-ready state in the event of a possible shutdown, rather than shutting down completely.

Rita Savonlahti, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at UPM, said: "In Finland, we have excellent factories and highly skilled employees. It is great that we can start working in factories again and it is time to move forward together." So far, the two sides have not disclosed more information on the specific timetable for resuming production. The strike was extended for the seventh time to May 14 after a previous negotiation failed. UPM's loss-making media paper unit, which has 13 factories, four of which are in Finland, is currently suspended due to a strike.

The four Finnish mills have a combined annual production capacity of more than 2.3 million tonnes: Kymi mill (705,000 tpa WFC and WFU graphic papers, including Finesse and Fine); Rauma mill (665,000 t/y LWC magazine paper); Jämsänkoski mill (630,000 tons of graphic paper, including uncoated magazine and specialty papers); Kaukas mill (305,000 tons of LWC graphic paper, including Ultra and Star).

The strike is wreaking havoc on the supply of label materials across Europe, and even in North America. Label industry expert Verpark said: "It's unbelievable how close they were supposed to be but failed again due to stubborn shortsightedness. This anger will reach Finland far more than what we are currently suffering from this behaviour. days of strikes. Continued ignorance of all of its customers, plant closures, lost revenue and jobs, and supply chain shortages and resulting costs are being ignored day after day. Shockingly, we can almost address the Action that previously reached six months."

Lars Ole Nauta, CEO of the Danish label printing company Optimum Group, also commented, saying: "I am so angry that I am speechless, how can we fix our relationship with Finn after this The relationship with the Olatai tag?"

The Finnish Paper Workers Union estimates the strike has cost the organization around 20 million euros a week, or 300 million euros since the strike at the beginning of the year.