Ongoing strike at UPM mills extended to 14 May

The going strike of the Finnish Paperworkers’ Union at the mills of the forest-based industry company UPM has been extended by two more weeks until 14 May, said the UPM in a press release on Thursday.

The strike has been extended as the UPM and the Paperworkers’ Union have not been able to come to new collective labour agreements.

On Thursday, the union turned down four settlement proposals submitted by the conciliator as a result the exceptionally long strike at UPM Pulp, UPM Communication Papers, UPM Specialty Papers, UPM Raflatac and UPM Biofuels units in Finland will continue.

The union board has announced that the strike started on 1 January will continue until 14 May, unless agreements are reached before that.

“We are deeply disappointed in the decision of the union and in the continuation of the strike that has already lasted 3,5 months. UPM has been negotiating with an earnest mind and made several compromises. We also accepted the conciliation proposals. Modernising the agreement stemming from 1940’s would be important both for the employees and the company,” said Jyrki Hollmén, Vice President, Labour Markets at UPM.

“It is very disappointing that after intensive negotiations, no business was able to reach a conclusion. Petri Vanhala, chairman of the Paperworkers’ Union, confirmed in the mediation of all businesses that each business can be agreed separately. The mediation found settlement proposals for four businesses that took the needs and wishes of both parties into account. We were confident that both parties undertook to accept these settlement proposals and industrial peace would resume. Now that the union has turned down the once drafted proposals, our businesses will make a fresh start," Hollmén added.

Currently, approximately 2 000 members of the union are on strike. Approximately 200 union members are working in tasks critical to society, such as heat generation and water management, in line with a court order of 21 January 2022.

UPM’s mechanical forest industry businesses UPM Plywood and UPM Timber each signed a 3-year collective agreement with the Industrial Union already in December 2021.

UPM will serve its customers from its mills outside of Finland to the extent possible.

Earlier, the union extended the strike several times.

On March 31, the union extended the ongoing strike by two more weeks until 30 April.