UPM paper strike extends again

With no agreement in sight between papermaker UPM and the Finnish Paperworkers' Union Paperiliitto, the strike at UPM's Finnish pulp and paper mills is to be extended by another two weeks.

The industrial action which has crippled output at the company’s mills and pulp plants will now continue until 30 April, which will be four months since the strike started.

The renewed extension of the strike comes at a time when negotiations between the union and the individual UPM companies are “continuing intensively." The pulp business and the papermaking business are being treated separately, although both are on strike.

The mediator has already presented a settlement proposal for the negotiations between UPM Pulp and the union. The parties are to comment on the conciliator's proposal by 14 April.

UPM is the biggest papermaker in Europe, producing €10bn worth of commercial, publishing and labelstock grades each year, with its products well used in Australia and New Zealand.

The strike – together with the ongoing shipping crisis and now the war in Ukraine – is contributing to concern over supply here, although the country’s main distributors Ball & Doggett and Spicers have assured printers they have continuation of supply, albeit possibly with higher prices, and possibly not with all brands available.