HELSINKI (From news reports) -- UPM has published details of its performance-based incentive system amid a labor dispute between the Finnish Paper Workers' Union and Finnish Forest Industries.

The pulp and paper supplier points that any discussion revolving exclusively around the wage increases agreed upon in collective bargaining negotiations fails to provide a complete picture of wage development, as the employees of its paper and pulp mills in Finland are also entitled to performance-based incentives equivalent to 5.3 per cent of earnings.

Last year, the employees were paid an average of 2,800 euros in performance-based incentives, according to UPM.

Riitta Savonlahti, the director of human resources at UPM, reminds that the performance-based incentives are available to all occupational groups throughout the organisation. Local wage arrangements, she adds, also reward employees for developing their occupational skills.

"Therefore, talking only about how many per cent wages rise under the collective agreement does not provide a complete picture of how the earnings are developing. This should be taken into consideration also in the public debate. People should not talk only about the base wage but also about total earnings," she says in a press release.

UPM also reminds that all of its employees have been entitled to performance-based incentives for ten years.

The Finnish Paper Workers' Union recently accused the Finnish Forest Industries of being unwilling to negotiate over the terms and conditions of employment in the paper industry.

Petri Vanhala, the chairperson of the trade union, told STT that the employers' organisation has not contacted him after proposing that the current collective agreement for paper workers be extended by a year and voicing its willingness to consider revising the agreement in a way that improves productivity.

It has said its objective is to agree on a collective agreement that is comparable to other industries.

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) commented on the negotiations last week by estimating that it would be unreasonable to demand that employees waive wage hikes for another year.

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