Paperworkers' Union

The Paperworkers' Union (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