HELSINKI (AP) -- Some 30,000 Finnish metals and engineering industry workers have begun a two-week strike expected to hit the country's export trade.
The strike, that began Friday, comes after workers rejected a mediation proposal in a labor dispute over pay and working conditions. It will affect some 40 companies, mostly in the machinery and metals sectors.
Last week, central trade unions and main employers organizations agreed on a centralized labor contract that would have hiked wages by 4.3 percent over two years for some 2 million workers.
The government has appealed to the metals union and employers to return to negotiations so that the centralized wage pact would not be jeopardized.