TU sues Stora Enso for breaching the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings
[28.02.2008]
During the negotiations it was no longer a question of a plan to close the
mill but of the decision itself.
The way in which Stora Enso conducted proceedings in closing the Summa paper mill in Southeast Finland is to have legal consequences. The Union of Salaried Employees TU sued the Finnish-Swedish company on Wednesday 27 February for breaching the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings.
The union is claiming EUR30,000 in compensation for each of the 43 salaried employees who have been made redundant at the mill.
Else-Mai Kirvesniemi, TU's lawyer, points out that the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings obliges the employer to negotiate with the personnel before the employer makes business decisions that have an impact on the personnel.
Stora Enso's proceedings in late 2007 prove that during the negotiations, due to the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings, it was no longer a question of a plan to close the mill but of the decision itself that Stora Enso implemented simultaneously with the negotiations.
According to Kirvesniemi TU is now also examining the possibilities suing Stora Enso for deficiencies in the co-operation procedure in connection with the company's decision to close the Kemijärvi pulp mill in Eastern Lapland.
Notices given during the negotiations
The negotiations - which are statutory under the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings - at Summa paper mill began in early November 2007 and were concluded in January 2008. However, the company had already given its salaried employees redundancy notices prior to the conclusion of the cooperation procedure and justified the redundancies by telling the employees that there was no more work for them to do.
"This surprised us, too", Kirvesniemi says.
TU has learnt that the persons responsible for
marketing at the
Summa paper mill had already been told in October that no orders for
February 2008 should be taken.
The production planners of the paper machines were told in November 2007 that orders were only to be accepted up until January 2008.
In addition the company cancelled raw material orders worth of millions of euros and did not make any 2008 budget for the Summa paper mill.
TU and other concerned unions have since autumn 2007 systematically gathered data on the statements, in public and within the company, of Stora Enso's leadership, Kirvesniemi says.
Pressure also on the Finnish government
The Union of Salaried Employees TU and the Paperworkers' Union have, since late 2007, put pressure on the Finnish government and Stora Enso's leadership. The goal has always been to get the company to reverse its decisions and continue production at the Kemijärvi pulp mill and at the Summa paper mill.
In January the unions organised a large event in Helsinki - "Jobs, not subsidies" - to which representatives of the Finnish government were also invited.
Antti Rinne, TU's president, let it be known at the seminar that the company had decided to close the factories before negotiations (statutory under the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings) had even begun.
Rinne was astonished at the explanation offered by minister Jyri Häkämies that the government had not been informed, in advance, about the closure plan. Within the government, Häkämies is responsible for corporate steering matters concerning companies, wholly or partly owned by the State.
Either this is really bad policy by the owner or someone is lying to us, TU's president said bitterly. He demanded continuation of production at both mills until the end of year 2008 or year 2009.
"It would give all parties time to analyse future possibilities for the two mills and, if necessary, facilitate employment opportunities for the personnel and the creation of replacement jobs."
Jouko Ahonen, the president of the Paperworkers' Union, supported the demand to allow the production of the mills to continue.
Jouko Skinnari, the Chair of the Finance Committee of the Parliament, proposed to Mauri Pekkarinen, the Minister of Economic Affairs, that the government should demand that Stora Enso organise an extraordinary general meeting. Its task would be to decide that the two mills would continue their production.
"We all know what an extraordinary general
meeting would mean. It would mean the departure of the CEO",
Pekkarinen replied. The audience reacted to the statement of the minister
with enthusiastic applause.
Viimeksi muokattu: 03.03.2008
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