A deal has been made between Finnish forestry groups and paper workers for an annual 4% increase in wages over the next two years.

 

The current deal ends at the end of May and the new agreement came without the problems of the previous negations of 2005 when mills stopped production for seven weeks due to strikes.

 

"I see it positive that we reached an agreement in good time before the old deal runs out, without external help and without the situation being escalated," paper union head Jouko Ahonen said in a statement.

 Even though pay rises in the Finnish public sector have been much higher, he added that the pay increases are broadly in line with those agreed in the metal industry last autumn and are fair to both employers and workers.

 

"The deal supports the paper industry -- struggling to cope with a structural change -- and its ability to react to change," head of labour market issues at the forestry federation, Jari Forss, said.

Forestry accounts for 20 percent of Finnish exports, and the country is home to the world's top paper and board maker Stora Enso , top magazine paper maker UPM-Kymmene and fine paper maker M-real .