Vacon Plc has completed the statutory personnel negotiations on 15 February 2012 concerning the company's white-collar personnel in Finland.

The invitation to the personnel negotiations was given to Vacon's white-collar employee representatives on 12 December 2011, and the negotiations started on 19 December 2011.

The need for personnel reduction in Finland operations was estimated at 60 persons at most. Possible temporary lay-offs and part-time work were estimated to affect not more than approximately 400 white-collar employees of the company. As a result of the negotiations, the need for personnel reduction was specified at 19 persons. 13 fixed-term employment contracts will not be extended. In addition to the personnel reductions, the number of Vacon's white-collar personnel in Finland operations will be reduced by 13 persons altogether with voluntary arrangements.

In the negotiations an agreement was also reached on an option for temporary lay-offs for a total of 20 working days which can be realized during April-December of 2012 as well as on an option for temporary lay-offs for a maximum of 10 working days during the first quarter of 2013.

Furthermore, savings equal to over 10 man-years have been identified in Vacon's global operations, and these savings will be realized during the first half of 2012.

In the background of the need for the alignment are economic and production related reasons as well as the re-organization of Vacon's operations. The aforementioned measures aim to ensure the company's competitiveness as well as developing and launching new products to the market.

In Finland, Vacon employs altogether some 750 people in Vaasa, Tampere and Vantaa.