The Sandvik company, a manufacturer of mining tools and machinery, says it will not be laying off employees at its Tampere factory. The company's employer-employee talks resulted in shutting down its Turku facility, and will be offering some of those affected new jobs – at the Tampere location, for instance. Of the 470 newly unemployed, some 140 will be offered new positions. Part of the Tampere factory's products will in the future be assembled in China.
"We are certainly hoping that as many people as possible would accept this transition offer," says Arto Karjalainen, regional Finnish manager of Sandvik. "Product transfers from Turku to our Tampere, Chinese and American factories will commence immediately and should be finalised by June 2016."
Tampere shop steward feels Turku's pain
Chief shop steward for the Tampere branch Antti Salonen says that the shutdown of the Turku factory is deplorable.
"Even with these transfer offers, it is unlikely that all of the employees who have been given this opportunity will be able to move away from their homes."
Salonen is also irked by the fact that Sandvik is moving part of its assembly and construction operations to China.
"Finland could do with some of the work that is currently being offered abroad."
Sandvik employs 950 people in Tampere at its product development centre and in its trial mine.
