Environment sets Finnish forestry agenda

  • 29/01/2003

Money does grow on trees for Finnish paper mill worker Kari Ahonjoki. "The salary is very good. It is the best you can get around this town," said 28-year-old Ahonjoki, who began working in the timber industry 10 years ago. Paper and pulp workers earn almost a third more than the average 12 euros (dollars) an hour wage that other blue-collar employees get in Finland. But Ahonjoki's enthusiasm for his job as an operator of a huge paper processing machine at the UPM-Kymmene mill in Valkeakoski is not shared by everyone because Finland faces a growing dilemma - how to balance its economic needs and those of the environment.