Helsinki, Finland, 27 October 2009 -- Metso yesterday concluded employee negotiations launched 09 September in its Mining and Construction Technology segment. As a result of the negotiations, there will be a total of 76 personnel reductions (45 blue-collar and 31 white-collar employees), primarily in Tampere. In the negotiations, it was additionally decided to continue temporary layoffs based on workloads.

The personnel negotiations affected all personnel at Metso Minerals Inc., a total of approximately 1000 blue-collar and white-collar employees in Helsinki and Tampere. The negotiations were initially expected to result in the permanent reduction of approximately 80-100 positions.

As a result of the global recession, investments by mining and construction industry customers have decreased or been postponed, which has partly affected Metso's order backlog. The primary reason for the personnel negotiations was the need to adjust Mining and Construction Technology operations to correspond with the demand of our customer industries. Other adjustment measures, such as flexible working hours, advancement of annual leave, and limitation of leased labor, were previously carried out in collaboration with the personnel.

Metso’s Mining and Construction Technology segment employs about 1000 people in Finland; its biggest sites are in Tampere and Helsinki. Globally, Metso’s Mining and Construction Technology segment employs about 10,000 people in more than 40 countries.

Metso (www.metso.com) is a global supplier of sustainable technology and services for mining, construction, power generation, automation, recycling and the pulp and paper industries. The company has about 28,000 employees in more than 50 countries.