Govt to help overcome UPM job-cut impact

Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Friday assured that the government will help the local municipality to overcome the situation following the closure of UPM´s Kaipola Paper Mill, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

The prime minister, accompanied by Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen and Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari, visited the Jämsä Municipality and met with the representatives of the UPM paper mill and its employees there, according to a government press release.

The forest-based bio-industry company UPM on Wednesday announced to shut down paper machines at different paper mills that will impact on about 840 jobs.

UPM plans to permanently close down its Kaipola mill in Finland latest by the end of 2020. The planned closure of UPM Kaipola’s three paper machines would impact approximately 450 positions and lead to a permanent reduction of the production capacity of 720,000 tonnes of graphic paper, thereof 450,000 tonnes of newsprint and 270,000 tonnes of coated mechanical paper.

The prime minister in a statement said the impact of the closure of the factory will be severe on the community and the government is taking preparations to support the region.

“My message to Jämsä is that you are not alone,” the Yle report quoted Marin as saying.

“The state is committed to finding replacement jobs and giving people in the region the opportunity to find employment,” the prime minister said in her statement.

She also urged the UPM authorities to recall furloughed workers, who had been temporarily laid off due to the effects of the coronavirus crisis.