The large Norwegian monopoly in paper industry, Norske Skog, is continuing its «shareholder policy» of closing down Norwegian and European paper mills.
Now it has launched an offensive to shut down the profitable mill Union in the city of Skien, a traditional centre for Norwegian processing industry. 380 jobs will disappear.
The official reason for the planned shut-down is over-production on the European market. However, Union has until this very day been a profitable plant for the company. The problem is that the profits aren't high enough. They don't give maximum shareholders' value, as the company promises its investors, among which the dominating are several American banks alongside different Norwegian share-holders.
Norske Skog expanded internationally in the late 90'ies, when it eagerly grabbed hold of a number of mills and industries in South Asia and Australia and New Zealand, which could be bought off cheaply as a result of the economic crisis and bankrupcies in this region.
The company, which has grown to the second largest paper supplier on a world scale, is preparing to advance further in Asia and Latin-America. The management openly declares that it is not interested in operating in Norway, and of course does not care less if hundreds of people lose their jobs. Yet another example proving that capital and the bourgeoisie no longer have any national sentiments or ability to defend national resources and interests. For the imperialist bourgeoisie, regardless og nationality, nothing but maximum profits is to be reckoned with.
The workers in Union Skien are preparing to fight against what they characterize as «plain robbery».
– We need a revolution in this country, one of them furiously expressed to the local newspaper.