UPDATE 1-Finnish paper mill workers to strike as wage talks fail -union

Some 9,000 workers at Finnish paper mills will go on strike on Monday after wage talks broke down, their labour union said in a statement, the latest in a series of labour conflicts to hit Finland.

Another 6,000 employees at sawmills, plywood mills and other forestry plants had already planned to strike on Monday, bringing the overall outage to around 15,000 workers. The strikes are set to last for three weeks, but could end earlier if a deal is reached with the mills, the union said.

Employers have vowed to respond with a lockout of workers at a dozen plants from Feb. 10 unless a deal is reached before then, further paralyzing Finland's forestry industry, a major source of export revenue. While labour unions have sought higher wages and fewer work hours, employers, as represented by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, have argued that the workforce was already too expensive compared to nations such as Sweden and Germany.

UPM-Kymmene, Stora Enso, and Metsa Board are among the companies facing shutdowns.

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