UPM Plywood and the Industrial Union have signed a business specific collective labour agreement for UPM Plywood. The new agreement is valid for three years starting from 1 January 2022.
The new agreement enables mills to continue production on all weekdays with terms that are satisfactory to both parties. The production output and the employees’ earnings will grow based on the new agreement. In addition, more people will be recruited to the mills. The agreement makes continuous seven-day shift model possible, and this means less working hours compared to the current discontinuous model, and the new agreement allows a shift model that is more employee-friendly. The agreement enables faster reaction to demand peaks thanks to flexible working hours, and it includes mutually agreed terms for production during holidays. Furthermore, a model for temporary work at other UPM Plywood mills was agreed on improving on-the-job learning and development as well as employees’ earnings.
The negotiations were conducted in good collaboration and the agreement was reached within the planned timeframe well before the end of the current collective labor agreement.
The Finnish Forest Industries Federation gave up its role as a social partner at the end of 2020 and the negotiations were shifted to company level. Instead of industry specific collective agreements, the negotiations are done between companies and unions representing their employees. UPM Plywood’s agreement is the first collective labour agreement negotiated in this way within the UPM group.
UPM Plywood offers high quality WISA plywood and veneer products for construction, vehicle flooring, LNG shipbuilding, parquet manufacturing and other industrial applications. UPM has five plywood mills and one veneer mill in Finland as well as plywood mills in Russia and Estonia.
