The company said that negotiations between the business and its employees on the new salary system were underway and workers were covered by a collective agreement, which made the strike illegal.
The negotiations include the company’s financial situation, the competitiveness of the Paimio unit, its remuneration and grounds for reward.
The strike, which is set to last for three days from the 14-18 June, was prompted after employees demanded that the hourly rate should be increased by seven euros.
HKScan said it would strive to minimise the impact of the strike on animal pick-up transfers and customer deliveries.
As part of the new salary system, HKScan is developing an employee well-being, management and open dialogue with staff, in accordance with agreed negotiation practices and collective bargaining agreements. The business said its target was to build Paimio’s wage model in order to support people’s performance, competence and motivation to work.
HKScan revealed in its first quarter financial results that it was “burdened by challenges” and CEO Jari Latvanen labelled the performance as “unacceptable”.
In the January-March period, the company made a loss of €10.4m that was attributed to difficulties at its Rauma poultry unit, which took longer than expected to become fully operational. In order to correct the loss-making results, HKScan said it needed to develop the company’s production efficiency in different units.
The Paimio unit, based on the western region of Finland, slaughters cattle and sows.