Trade dispute in the Finnish pulp and paper industry resolved

摘要

Production units in the Finnish pulp and paper industry began resuming work on 1 July after the resolution of the trade dispute which triggered a more than six-week wave of strikes and lockouts in the country. The Finnish Forest Industries' Federation (FFIF) and some affected companies announced that all production units would gradually resume operations beginning on 1 July. It is expected that production will return to normal levels in the course of week 27. The breakthrough in the wage negotiations between the FFIF in its role of employers' representative and the trade union of the Finnish paper industry workers Paperi-liitto came on the evening of 29 June when the parties agreed on a model solution based on the second arbitration proposal after three days of negotiation. The Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen had urged the parties on the first day of the session to settle the conflict quickly. On 1 July, the Executive Committee of the FFIF and the National Council of the paper workers' union voted in favour of the proposed solution. A day earlier, the agreement negotiated between FFIF and the Union of Salaried Employees TU had been approved.