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22 September, 2008
A call by ICEM affiliate Toimihenkilöunioni TU, the Salaried Workers’ Union in Finland, to bring European pressure actions against chemicals company Kemira has been delayed until later this week because of progress in redundancy talks. TU was to begin actions through the Kemira European Forum (KEF) on 17-18 September, but those actions were cancelled on 12 September.
Kemira announced in early August a decision to pare costs totaling €50 million, and to cut 1,000 jobs worldwide. Some 40% of the cost cuts were to come from Finnish operations. Kemira announced it would exit its paints and coatings business, called Tikkurila, and concentrate on water and fibre-management chemicals businesses.
Salaried staff and research and development workers in Finland, members of TU, are to bear much of the cost-cutting and suffer redundancies.
But following the call by the KEF Works Council for industrial action at workplaces in Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, the attitude of management changed in mandatory social talks. “The will to reach an agreement is now strong on both sides,” said Tomi Juntunen, TU Chief Shop Steward at a Kemira plant in Oulu, Finland.
Four key questions remain open in talks, however, including levels of severance pay for workers who will be made redundant and issues surrounding retirement benefits. The new dates for European protests, if progress was not made last week in negotiations, will be 24-25 September.
Meanwhile, Kemira this month expanded its water-treatment chemicals business by buying Zibo Huaqing Water Purifying Products of Shandong Province, China. It was the second Chinese water filtration business the Finnish company has purchased since 2007. Kemira, which the Finnish government holds a 16.52% stake, also bought two water treatment companies in Brazil over the past two years, as well as similar businesses once held by chemical companies in Denmark, France, and the US.