If the strikes
threatening the forest industry were to happen, the damage could amount
to nearly 1 billion euros. On the basis of the negotiations during the
last weeks, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation believes that it is
highly probable that at least the strike at sawmills and plywood
factories declared by the Industrial Union will take place.
The
Finnish Forest Industries Federation believes that it is highly
probable that the strike threatening the sawmills and plywood factories
in the mechanical forest industry in a week’s time will happen. The
negotiations concerning the new terms of employment with the Industrial
Union threatening the strike have not made much progress.
“It seems
that the Industrial Union is not interested in real negotiations and
jointly agreeing. The Industrial Union aims for a harmonised package
solution in all export industries and does not understand that the
purpose of the collective bargaining round is to agree on
industry-specific terms of employment,” says Labour Market Director
Jyrki Hollmén from the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
The
Finnish Forest Industries Federation has a negotiation connection with
the Finnish Paper Workers’ Union representing the paper, paperboard and
pulp industry employees. Negotiations have taken place also during the
weekend, and they will continue on Monday. On Tuesday, the parties will
meet with the National Conciliator.
“There is no sign of a resolution
yet, and the extremely harmful strikes threaten the entire industry.
There are many outstanding issues on the table,” says Hollmén.
For
the competitiveness of the Finnish forest industry, there is
considerably more at stake than just the future of the so-called “kiky”
hours, which increased the annual working time by 24 hours.
The
development opportunities of the global competitiveness and productivity
of paper, paperboard and pulp industries should be supported with wage
restraint, working time solutions and by launching a comprehensive
reform aiming at simplifying the working time and wage payment method.
Regulations concerning the additional costs of downtime work under the
collective agreement and outsourcing of work should be harmonised with
other export industry.
At least hundreds of millions of losses
If
all the strikes declared by the Finnish Paper Workers’ Union, the
Industrial Union and the Trade Union Pro scheduled to start after a week
were to happen, the losses could be high. The entire forest industry
would be paralysed for two weeks, since the strikes are targeted at 110
factories and companies.
The strikes would cause extensive losses of
production and long-term competitive disadvantages. Losses of production
would be caused by factory shutdowns and production discontinuation,
while the long-term competitive disadvantages would be a result of
delivery problems, wavering customer trust and possible customer losses
and, on a broader perspective, by the strengthening of the image of
Finland being a strike-prone country with unstable labour markets.
Production
losses of the entire forest industry could amount to nearly EUR 1
billion during the 14-day strike. The mechanical forest industry strikes
could lead to losses of approximately EUR 270 million and strikes at
the paper, paperboard and pulp factories to losses of approximately EUR
640 million. These estimates are based on Statistic Finland’s
information concerning the value of the industry’s gross production in
2018 on the prevalence of economic good times.
If the forest industry
exports were to be paralysed for 14 days, Finland could lose up to EUR
500 million of export earnings. Paper and paperboard products are the
most significant export products of Finland, and the overall value of
the forest industry export is, based on the statistics of the Customs,
more than EUR 13 billion per year.
The strikes would also cause tax
losses for the entire society. The direct tax revenue generated by the
forest industry in two weeks is approximately EUR 47 million. More
losses would be created throughout the value chain, since the strike
would have an impact on the entire forest sector from timber sales to
transports.
With irresponsible strikes, the unions will do real harm to all Finns – especially to their own members.
“After
these losses, it will be sure that the margin for wage increases will
only decrease. Furthermore, strikes drastically gnawing at the
profitability will significantly weaken the possibility of preserving
industrial jobs in Finland,” says Hollmén.
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