The reason for the strike is a dispute concerning the number of lay offs announced at the mill last Friday.The number of mill personnel at Kymi and Kaukas mills will be reduced by altogether 200 persons, out of which 147 are shop-floor employees and 33 salaried employees. According to the Kymi paper workers, this is a larger personnel reduction than previously announced by the company.The strike at UPM Kymi has been announced to last until 3 May, but the parties will continue negotiations. Estimated daily production and sales loss for paper is approximately 2,400 tons and for pulp approximately 1,600 tons. The Kymi pulp and paper mills annually manufacture 850,000 tons of coated and uncoated fine papers and 540,000 tons of chemical pulp. The mill integrate employs about 700 people.The staff reductions will mainly take place in 2010. Nearly half of the reductions can be achieved by various pension schemes.?