UPM and its employees were unable to establish a way to meet the commercial requirements for continuation of operations at the Myllykoski mill during employee negotiations, UPM writes in a press release.In addition, the company is cutting down its overlapping operations in paper sales, the supply chain and its functions in Finland.The personnel reductions will affect 371 people at the Myllykoski paper mill and 21 people at Myllykoski Corporation and Myllykoski Sales Nordic. The personnel reductions will start in January 2012. During the negotiations, issues such as pension schemes, relocations within the company, re-training and ways to alleviate the effects of redundancies were discussed. UPM will implement a program called "From Job to Job" to support its employees during the transition.“The Myllykoski mill has been making a loss for several years despite numerous measures aimed at making the operations more efficient. The mill’s cost competitiveness is weak. The high costs of raw materials and energy have further increased total costs and permanently damaged the mill's opportunities to reach a profitable level,” states Jyrki Ovaska, President, UPM Paper Business Group.The declining economic situation has worsened the mill's situation this autumn. Alternative, profitable uses for the mill inside UPM’s businesses have not been found. /AA