Rottneros Decides on Environmental Investments at Vallvik Mill

Frank Shaffer has joined Monadnock Paper Mills, Inc. as Technical Services Manager. In this newly developed role, Frank will act as liaison between Monadnock and its vendors and customers relative to new product development, quality, sales and marketing. Prior to joining Monadnock, Frank was with Hub Folding Box, Mansfield, MA, for the past six years. Prior to that he held positions with Timbar Packaging & Display, and Two C Pack Systems. Frank also founded Souhegan Color, Inc. which merged with Eastern Rainbow in 1999. He has a strong background in commercial print operations, secondary packaging, and media. He is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BS degree in Printing Technology. “I’m pleased to welcome Frank to our team,” said Dr. Rajan Iyer, Vice President of Research & Development and Technical Services at Monadnock. “His extensive background in print platforms, post-press converting, and product development raises the level of consultative service we can provide to our customers.”

The Finnish Paperworkers’ Union has issued a new strike announcement to UPM, declaring that their strike at UPM’s Finnish mills will be extended by two weeks until 5 February 2022, unless new agreements are reached before that. The Paperworkers’ Union’s strike at UPM Pulp, UPM Biofuels, UPM Communication Papers, UPM Specialty Papers and UPM Raflatac units in Finland started 1 January 2022. “If the members of the Paperworkers’ Union want to continue the strike, they naturally have every right to do so. UPM’s goal continues to be to start business specific negotiations with the union as soon as possible. Negotiations are the only way forward. It is important that the negotiations for new agreements begin with a forward-looking mindset and determination to find the best solution for each business and its personnel” says Jyrki Hollmén, Vice President, Labour Markets at UPM. Just before the strike started, UPM received from the Paperworkers’ Union an email proposal for a new collective labour agreement, without any prior negotiation contact. The proposal was practically the same old collective agreement, which expired at the end of 2021. UPM, however, aims to have genuine interactive negotiations on the new terms of labour.

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 1.1.2022. 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.