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4 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 30/2000
Finland's mighty paper industry was brought to a virtual standstill from 1.00 p.m. local time today.
Some 30,000 paperworkers nationwide - almost the entire active workforce in the sector - were called out by their union Paperiliitto after mediation broke down at about 3.00 a.m. this morning.
Paper is one of Finland's main exports. The indefinite strike could have a major impact both on Finnish trade figures and on newspaper, magazine and book production in other countries.
The dispute is over union demands in this year's collective bargaining round. During the night, the mediator tabled a proposal on one issue - outsourcing. The suggested compromise was accepted by the union but rejected out of hand by the employers. In the circumstances, the mediator felt that there was no point in continuing the talks, so the union confirmed its strike call.
Solidarity was immediately declared by the Swedish paperworkers' union Pappers. The Finnish employers had threatened to shift production to neighbouring Sweden, but Pappers has made it clear that it will black any additional paper production for companies affected by the Finnish strike.
Paperiliitto and Pappers are both affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
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This afternoon, the ICEM warned paperworkers' unions worldwide that Finnish paper firms may attempt to move production abroad during the dispute.
"If necessary," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, "we will be ready to block the transfer of paper production from Finland to any other country for as long as the dispute continues. We are asking all our paper industry unions to be on the alert."
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Paperiliitto's main demands are for:
- better job security
- proper bonus system provisions within the collective agreement (at present, bonuses are paid more or less at the employer's discretion)
- work time cuts totalling 8 hours this year (annual working hours are currently 1,619 - about 34.5 hours a week)
- a substantial wage increase of around 4 or 5 percent (annual inflation is about 2.5 to 3 percent).
Outsourcing, over which the employers destroyed the mediation bid, has been a bone of contention in the Finnish paper sector for some years now. In Finland, the outsourcing of jobs is in principle subject to the agreement of the industry union concerned. However, the employers have been increasingly keen to flout this provision. They want to outsource jobs such as maintenance and cleaning, although the union emphasises that this would not necessarily produce any real cost savings.
The mediator's proposal, accepted by Paperiliitto, was that any employer plan for outsourcing should be negotiable in the first instance at the local level. If no agreement were reached, negotiations would shift to the national trade union level. Only after that, if there were still no agreement, would the outsourcing request be considered to have been rejected. This was the compromise that the employers turned down in the small hours of this morning.
Both sides are now digging in for what could be a protracted dispute.
The prospects for a union victory are good. Last month, Finland's chemical and energy workers chalked up a major success after a strike in which international solidarity played a similar role.
Some 30,000 paperworkers nationwide - almost the entire active workforce in the sector - were called out by their union Paperiliitto after mediation broke down at about 3.00 a.m. this morning.
Paper is one of Finland's main exports. The indefinite strike could have a major impact both on Finnish trade figures and on newspaper, magazine and book production in other countries.
The dispute is over union demands in this year's collective bargaining round. During the night, the mediator tabled a proposal on one issue - outsourcing. The suggested compromise was accepted by the union but rejected out of hand by the employers. In the circumstances, the mediator felt that there was no point in continuing the talks, so the union confirmed its strike call.
Solidarity was immediately declared by the Swedish paperworkers' union Pappers. The Finnish employers had threatened to shift production to neighbouring Sweden, but Pappers has made it clear that it will black any additional paper production for companies affected by the Finnish strike.
Paperiliitto and Pappers are both affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
______________
This afternoon, the ICEM warned paperworkers' unions worldwide that Finnish paper firms may attempt to move production abroad during the dispute.
"If necessary," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, "we will be ready to block the transfer of paper production from Finland to any other country for as long as the dispute continues. We are asking all our paper industry unions to be on the alert."
______________
Paperiliitto's main demands are for:
- better job security
- proper bonus system provisions within the collective agreement (at present, bonuses are paid more or less at the employer's discretion)
- work time cuts totalling 8 hours this year (annual working hours are currently 1,619 - about 34.5 hours a week)
- a substantial wage increase of around 4 or 5 percent (annual inflation is about 2.5 to 3 percent).
Outsourcing, over which the employers destroyed the mediation bid, has been a bone of contention in the Finnish paper sector for some years now. In Finland, the outsourcing of jobs is in principle subject to the agreement of the industry union concerned. However, the employers have been increasingly keen to flout this provision. They want to outsource jobs such as maintenance and cleaning, although the union emphasises that this would not necessarily produce any real cost savings.
The mediator's proposal, accepted by Paperiliitto, was that any employer plan for outsourcing should be negotiable in the first instance at the local level. If no agreement were reached, negotiations would shift to the national trade union level. Only after that, if there were still no agreement, would the outsourcing request be considered to have been rejected. This was the compromise that the employers turned down in the small hours of this morning.
Both sides are now digging in for what could be a protracted dispute.
The prospects for a union victory are good. Last month, Finland's chemical and energy workers chalked up a major success after a strike in which international solidarity played a similar role.