(UPM, Helsinki, 14 April 2009 at 10:00) – The employee negotiations at UPM's plywood processing mill in Lahti and at Kaukas plywood mill in Lappeenranta have been concluded. As a result of these negotiations UPM will transfer the plywood processing operations from its Lahti processing mill to the company's other plywood mills. In addition, UPM will temporarily lay off the entire personnel of the Kaukas plywood mill for over 90 days. The reason for these decisions is the further weakened market situation of plywood. The aim is to ensure the profitability of the operating plywood mills.
The efficiency of the plywood mills will be increased by transferring the further processing operations from Lahti to Jyväskylä, Savonlinna and Joensuu mills, which produce also the base panels. At Lahti mill some 110 employees will be laid off. The possibility to move to work in other UPM mills will be investigated.
UPM's other operations in Lahti, which include the stuff functions for Plywood and Timber business areas, UPM ProFi wood plastic composite business area, and shared corporate functions, will continue. These operations employ around 220 people.
During the lay-off period at Kaukas plywood mill, the manufacturing of uncoated and coated WISA plywoods will be transferred from Kaukas mainly to Joensuu and Savonlinna mills. The Kaukas mill employs some 320 people. UPM is investigating possibilities to arrange training for the employees during the temporary lay off.
In addition to plywood, UPM manufactures paper, pulp, sawn timber and further processed products at its Kaukas mill site in Lappeenranta. Together with other company operations located in the mill site, UPM employs altogether over 1,600 people in Lappeenranta.
For further information, please contact:
Mr Kari Hyvönen, Vice President, UPM, Plywood, Operations, tel. +358 400 258 293
Mr Petri Parjanen, Director, HR, UPM, Plywood, tel. +358 40 833 5297
