Paperworkers' Union
# Paperworkers' Union

The Paperworkers' Union (Finnish: Paperiliitto) is a trade union representing workers in the paper industry, in Finland.

## History

The union was established in 1906, on the initiative of the Tampere Paper Industry Workers' Union. Initially a successful organisation, it split in 1930 between supporters of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a communist-led group. The communist group was soon banned, so the SDP's Finnish Paper Industry Workers' Union viewed itself as the successor of the earlier union.

The union affiliated to the Finnish Federation of Trade Unions, and then from 1969, to its successor, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. By 1998, it had 49,618 members, but by 2019, this had fallen to 34,021, of whom only 14,000 were actively employed in the industry.

Despite its decline in membership, the union decided against joining the Industrial Union TEAM, founded in 2010, or its successor, the Industrial Union.

## Presidents

    1906: Aksel Pynnönen
    1907: Ville Salonen
    1908: Kalle Salminen
    1910: K. A. Koskinen
    1917: Eino Rissanen
    1919: Kalle Koivunen
    1922: Aleksi Ulanen
    1929: Santtu Vuorio
    1935: Hjalmar Lappalainen
    1946: Pentti Lundström
    1949: Vihtori Rantanen
    1955: Veikko Ahtola
    1978: Antero Mäki
    1993: Jarmo Lähteenmäki
    2003: Jouko Ahonen
    2011: Petri Vanhala
