| Botnia's timber supply network provides employment for over 3,000 Uruguayans Helsinki (18.02.2008 - Juhani Artto) Botnia's pulp mill in Fray Bentos in Uruguay received international attention from the very beginning during its construction stage. And this was due to the fierce opposition to the project in neighbouring In Despite the protests in For thousands of Uruguayans that means more or less permanent employment. At the mill itself there are only about 300 jobs, but over ten times more people work in the timber supply network. Less than 400 of these over 3,000 forest workers belong to Botnia's personnel. The remainder - almost 90 per cent - are employed by some160 subcontractors. And the majority of these subcontractors are small companies with less than ten employees. Decent pay Forest workers of the timber supply network of Botnia earned, in May 2007, on average EUR213 per month, a new study*, published 29 January 2008, reveals. Compared with the pay in alternative rural jobs the pay can be considered decent, the authors of the study say. The average pay was more than double the mandatory minimum pay of 3,075 Uruguayan pesos in May 2007. Income disparity proved to be wide. 63 per cent earned from one to three minimum wages, 15 per cent more than three minimum wages and 22 per cent below the minimum pay. The latter does not mean illegally low wages but reflects the large provision of piecework (60 per cent). Bad weather conditions or other factors sometimes interrupt the work and lower earnings of the pieceworkers. Two out of three workers worked eight hours per day, and one out of four had a still longer work-day but the 48 hour per week, as defined in the legislation, was not exceeded. The large majority was satisfied with their working hours. By May 2007, only 11 per cent of the over 3,000 forest workers had joined the union. However, in these rural Uruguayan surroundings this figure was high. 55 per cent of the workers said that they might join the union but 40 per cent did not regard union membership as a relevant option. *Botnia's pulp and working conditions at the tree plantations in Uruguay, by Mauricio Tubío, Paola Mascheroni, Jessica Ramiréz and Alberto Riella (coordinator) from Universidad de la República, commissioned by the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland SASK. Four Finnish trade unions, representing paper, wood, chemical and construction workers, and the federation of Uruguay's pulp and paper workers Cuopyc, participated in the project. The original version of the study is written in Spanish. The Finnish language version is a 28 page abridgement. Read also:
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