Finnish Paper Workers' Union is slowing down collective agreement negotiations
May 26, 2005. The Finnish Paperworkers' Union is slowing down collective agreement negotiations by its unclear objectives. Negotiations were continued today but the National Conciliator did not give any proposal for a settlement. Negotiations began already in January, and from the beginning of May they have been headed by the National Conciliator. Achieving the agreement as quickly as possible would benefit both sides. But concluding a collective labour agreement needs paper workers' strong input, too.
May 26, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. The Finnish Paperworkers' Union is slowing down collective agreement negotiations by its unclear objectives. Negotiations were continued today but the National Conciliator did not give any proposal for a settlement. Negotiations began already in January, and from the beginning of May they have been headed by the National Conciliator. Achieving the agreement as quickly as possible would benefit both sides. But concluding a collective labour agreement needs paper workers' strong input, too.
"The chairman of the Finnish Paperworkers' Union has expressed publicly that the Union has not yet set up officially the objectives of the negotiations. Therefore also their messages have been very contradictory. This makes the negotiations difficult and may uselessly force the paper industry to extend the lockout," says Mr. Timo Poranen, President of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
Continuous shutdowns and illegal strikes caused by the Finnish Paperworkers' Union do not give the employers any other option than to halt production. There have been hundreds of disturbances in the pulp and paper mills production since the end of March. Continuous and unplanned shutdowns increase the risks of environmental damage and machine breakdowns.
If the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, representing the pulp and paper industry, is forced to continue the lockout from Wednesday 15th June, the announcement should, according to the Finnish law, be given two weeks earlier, on Tuesday 31st May at the latest.
"It is of the utmost importance that also the Finnish Paperworkers' Union makes its best to ensure the competitiveness of the paper industry in Finland. This is the only way to be able to offer jobs within the industry also in the future," Poranen points out.
The Finnish Forest Industries Federation wants to remove from the paper industry collective agreement for instance the clauses providing for obligatory Christmas and Midsummer shutdowns as well as the restrictions on the use of subcontractors. These restrictions do not apply to mills outside Finland nor to any other sector of industry in Finland.