Approximately 7,500 Finnish workers staged a 24 hour strike today to protest layoffs and closures by UPM-Kymmene. This labor dispute coincides with the start of labor negotiations between unions and employers' organizations to achieve a centralized wage agreement in Finnish industry. In Finland, more than 80 percent of wage-earners are members of unions and strikes are rare. Unions claim that UPM is letting go of workers without considering other cost-saving alternatives.
See "Thousands of Workers Strike UPM Plants", The New York Times, November 3, 2004