The long-running labor dispute between the forest company UPM and the Paper Association has been resolved after both parties have agreed Leo Finlandmediator from the National Labor Conciliator’s Office.
"I made a proposal that both parties were a little dissatisfied with," Finland said at a press conference on Friday afternoon.
The four-year collective agreement will agree on pay increases this year and will be reviewed after two years.
UPM’s strike began in January, when the company demanded the division of paper workers into five separate business units and a different collective agreement for each.
The union strongly opposed this principle and rejected an agreement reached last week that would have concluded new contracts for four of the five units. The union leaders said this would have left half of their members to UPM without a new agreement.
On Thursday, Leo made a presentation covering the office of the National Labor Mediator covering all five business units, setting a deadline for the parties to accept or reject the proposal in its entirety by Friday afternoon.
The Paper Workers’ Union received support from other unions to finance strike wages and with some port workers Blocking UPM broadcasts during the dispute.
The union has estimated that the strike will cost UPM around € 20 million a week.
The controversy has contributed to a shortage of newsprint in Finland, as newspapers have suspended annexes and reduced the content of printed newspapers.
Also British parliamentarians lifted the strikeas it has affected the availability of labels on food packaging and potentially affected food chains.
Source: The Nordic Page