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18 January, 2008
The ICEM today said Stora Enso must do more to meet its social responsibilities regarding layoffs at two pulp and paper mills in Finland, as well for white-collar workers in the Nordic nation that are also getting the sack. The ICEM supports this week’s strike by workers at Stora Enso in Finland.
The Global Union Federation, representing 20 million workers in several industrial sectors, predicted in November that further strikes in the Finnish pulp and paper sector would occur if Stora Enso did not present alternatives to its latest restructuring plan. (That release can be found here.)
On 25 October, the Finnish-Swedish company announced that 1,400 jobs would be cut in Finland, Sweden, and other European nations. Some 1,100 of those jobs were to be lost in Finland. Yesterday’s announcement by Stora Enso that mill closures and job cuts totalling 985 is unacceptable, and the ICEM joins with Finnish trade union affiliate Paperiliitto by calling on the company to develop new technologies and new products that will retain workers.
“The strikes in Finland are a clear indication that workers themselves are not satisfied with the company’s approach,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “As a sizeable minority shareholder in Stora Enso, the Finnish government has an obligation to do more to preserve these jobs.”
The ICEM reiterates its solidarity to the workers at the Kemijärvi and Summa Mills in Finland, as well as the Norrsundet paperworkers in Sweden, and white-collar workers in the two countries and in other administrative offices in Europe. “They have displayed great strength through their respective trade unions, and the ICEM will ensure that this strength becomes a chain of strength for paperworkers throughout the world,” said Warda. “We call on Stora Enso to implement strategies that grow jobs, not destroy them.”