More than 9,000 Finnish paper mill workers, along with 6,000 employees at sawmills, plywood mills and other forestry plants, have been on strike since wage talks failed in late January, according to Reuters.
Among the companies facing shutdowns are UPM Kymmene, Metsa Board and Stora Enso—all major packaging suppliers to the tobacco industry. While labor unions demand higher wages and fewer work hours, employers argue that the Finnish labor force is already expensive compared with that in other countries.
Negotiations between the companies and employees continue. Employers warned, however, that if no agreement is reached by Feb. 10, they would start locking out workers from more than 10 production plants.
The strikes could significantly impact the first-quarter results of all forestry companies on the Helsinki stock exchange, according to an analyst quoted by Bloomberg.
The unrest in Finland’s forestry sectors follows a wave of labor conflicts in other sectors. The forestry industry is a major source of income for Finland.