Finnish Defense Workers’ Strike May Pause Ammunition Production for Ukraine

Due to a strike by defense industry workers in Finland, ammunition production may stop for several days.

The Yle reported on this.

The strike, which is scheduled for February 1 and 2, will affect Nammo plants that produce ammunition supplied to Ukraine.

These Finnish defense companies have never gone on strike before.

The two-day strike is expected to halt ammunition production at the company’s three factories and a powder plant in Lapua, Sastamala, and Vihtavuori.

The company’s CEO, Raimo Helasmäki, believes that the protests may affect the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

“In this global situation and during the war in Ukraine, it is bad to stop production. All four plants have full order books for this year. This will also affect the supply of ammunition to Ukraine,” he said.

According to him, the strike will have the greatest impact on gunpowder production. It is gunpowder that is in great shortage in the world today. Helasmäki predicts that the shutdown of defense plants will last four days in total.

Nammo employs 450 workers across its plants, and approximately 350 employees are expected to participate in the strikes.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of Finland is confident that the suspension of the plants will not affect the quantity and quality of ammunition supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

As previously reported, in December 2023, Finland decided to double its ammunition production to help Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense of Finland has committed to investing approximately €24 million to boost the production of heavy ammunition and secure long-term orders from the Finnish industry.