HELSINKI (Reuters) – About 3,000 employees of the Finnish forest group UPM went on strike on Saturday and closed down factories, the company said on Saturday.

Three unions representing paperworkers, executives and electricians had previously warned of a strike if a new agreement on wages and working conditions could not be reached before the previous agreement expired on 31 December.

UPM, along with other forest employers, renounced collective bargaining a year ago, saying the industry wants to improve profitability by looking for alternative ways to agree on wages and working conditions.

Employees have demanded a company-wide employment contract from UPM, but the company has entered into business-specific agreements and signed them with its plywood and wood industries.

Employees in UPM’s pulp, paper and biofuels business have said that UPM wants to dictate new terms instead of negotiations, three unions have said.

The strike will end on January 22, unless an agreement is reached before then, the unions said in separate statements.

Antti Viljakainen, an analyst at Inderes, told Reuters earlier that UPM’s costs could be at least twice as high as the € 30 million ($ 34 million) caused by the previous strike in 2020.

UPM’s competitor Stora Enso has signed a company-wide agreement with the trade unions.

($ 1 = $ 0.8797)

(Reported by Essi Lehto, edited by Louise Heavens)