The negotiations may lead to the dismissal of up to 60 people, and a large number of fixed-term contracts will end.
Metsähallitus, Finland’s state-owned forestry enterprise, announced Friday that it will start negotiations “on changes in the employment contracts of 460 permanent employees.”
“The negotiations may lead to the dismissal of up to 60 people, and a large number of fixed-term contracts will end at the turn of the year without renewal,” the enterprise notes in a statement.
Metsähallitus Nature Services manage, among other things, Finland’s national parks and hiking areas, which, according to the statement, “are still under high use and pressure from the coronavirus period.” The government’s budget proposal leads to a savings target of around €8 million for Metsähallitus’ nature services in 2024.
Tapani Pennanen, the chief shop steward of Metsähallitus, Forestry Experts Association (METO), insists that the number of redundancies must be minimized and that the changes in tasks must be sensible:
“The priority now must be to make in-house reorganizations and look for positions in other Metsähallitus units. We need to ensure that people are secure in their new jobs,” Pennanen says.
The forestry experts’ organization sees the situation “as completely unsustainable.”
“The state budget must take Metsähallitus’ budgetary needs into account,” says Stefan Borgman, the chairman of the Forest Experts’ Association.
The possible layoffs concern Metsähallitus Nature Services and the joint operations of the Metsähallitus Group.
They will not affect, for example, Metsätalous Oy, Real Estate Development or Wilderness Services.
