Stora Enso plants go on strike

By Anastasia Tomazhenkova: Stora Enso plants in Finland went on strike. 2,500 workers walked out to protest layoffs and mill closures.

Photo: Stora Enso plants go on strike

Stora Enso plants go on strike

The Finnish-Swedish paper maker's confirmation earlier in the day that it will shut down three mills in Finland and lay off up to 985 people - was the reason for the strike.

The workers plan to last the strike until Saturday

In October, Stora Enso Oyj said it would lay off some 1,700 workers in Finland and Sweden, cut production and slash more than a third of its administrative staff worldwide. Total annual savings should amount to some Ђ160 million (US$230 million) by 2009, the company said.

Stora Enso Oyj  is a Finnish-Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer, formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso- Gutzeit Oy in 1998. It is headquartered in Helsinki, and it has approximately 46,000 employees. In 2002 it was the fifth largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of revenue and in 2005 it was the world's largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of production capacity.