Papermakers adopt national pay deal

Papermakers in Finland finally reached agreement on a new pay deal at the start of this month following a bitter struggle which, with strikes and an employers' lockout, closed the industry down for six weeks.

Covering 24,000 employees, the settlement provides for the papermaking industry to adopt the first two years of a national three-year pay deal reached in other parts of the Finnish economy. In terms of the paybill, this amounts to 2.5% in year one and 1.9% in year two - well above the current level of inflation (0.8% in May). A separate agreement will be reached for the third year. The employers had initially been reluctant to accept the terms of the national deal.

The unions have agreed to end the industry's shutdowns at Christmas and midsummer, but have secured a reduction in working time of between four and eight hours a year.

The use of outsourcing is also regulated under the settlement, which provides for a system of arbitration if agreement cannot be reached locally.