May 09, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. Finnish paper workers and employers resumed labor talks Monday to avoid a nationwide strike and lockout which threatens to close down the industry next week, Dow Jones reported. The negotiations, mediated by National Conciliator Juhani Salonius, followed a walkout at the weekend by thousands of paper workers at Stora Enso Oyj (SEO) mills in protest against the company's policy of not paying wages to striking workers. Paper and pulp mills have suffered stoppages for several weeks caused by wildcat strikes and lockouts after a deadlock in labor talks between the 50,000-member Finnish Paper Workers' Union and the forest industry employers organization. Last week, the two parties agreed to meet under the mediation of Salonius, hoping to avert the industrial actions which could cost the country hundreds of millions of euros in lost earnings. If talks break down, unions have threatened an all-out strike May 16-17, and employers warned of a two-week lockout in the forest industry starting May 18. Last week, Sweden's 21,000-member paper union said it will support Finnish workers by imposing an overtime ban on May 16 and also would be ready to consider tougher measures. The forest industry warned that the weekend walkout, which closed most Stora Enso paper mills in Finland, has jeopardized the labor talks. "It's a little bit tense right now, expectant, but we are seriously striving for an agreement," Jouko Ahonen, the paper workers' union chairman, said as the talks resumed. Employers representatives declined to comment. No details or timetable of the negotiations were given, but the conciliator's office said the two parties had until Sunday night to accept mediation if Salonius feels he can propose a solution. Besides wage hikes, workers were demanding better sickness benefits and oppose the industry's increased use of temporary employees, outsourcing and what they see as a weakening of their labor contracts. The Finnish paper union last held a nationwide strike over labor contracts in 2000, when workers brought the industry to a halt for one week.