With the symbolic motto “God guides, Nature inspires, Work unites” and a joint tree planting, the 35th anniversary of the Latvian Forest Sector Trade Union (LMNA) was ceremonially marked on 25 April, bringing together almost 400 guests, among them leaders from Lithuanian, European and global trade union organisations.
Opening the anniversary event by raising the Forest Days flag, LMNA chair Kristīne Rapa underlined the trade union's core values – the right to work and the dignity of working people. “No industry can exist without the people who work in it. Thank you to all past and present LMNA members – your contribution to the sector is invaluable. Thank you to all the leaders of LMNA's workplace organisations – you are our strength. Thank you to all our colleagues in the trade union family, both in Latvia and abroad. May we be united by shared work and a love of the forest. Strength in unity!” said Kristīne Rapa. “People in the forest sector are well aware that they are the heirs to the work done before them by those who planted the forest. While enjoying the fruits of that work, it is important to remember that we bear a responsibility towards future generations – so that there is work for those who will work in the sector after us. That is why, in our anniversary year, we use our own symbolic example to invite everyone to create a new forest.”
International recognition for close cooperation
“There is no better celebration than planting trees – it is a gift to the future,” said Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of the global union federation Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), who greatly valued the chance to take part. The organisation he represents is made up of more than 350 trade unions in 117 countries, uniting 15 million members. Inspired by LMNA, Ambet Yuson promised that he would call on every one of them to plant a tree for a more sustainable future for the world.
Meanwhile Tom Deleu, General Secretary of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW), used the opening of the event to give particular praise to LMNA's substantial contribution to international work. “Kristīne Rapa is vice-president of the EFBWW Forest Sector Subcommittee and actively puts Latvia's views forward in Brussels. Securing sustainable forest management is a globally relevant process, and it is not possible without workers and the trade unions that represent them. In a complicated and shifting geopolitical situation, social dialogue is also a very important pillar supporting democracy.”
It should be noted that the day before – on 24 April – the leadership of BWI and EFBWW, together with LMNA representatives, spent a full day visiting the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia and getting to know production processes at the Latvijas Finieris group's birch plywood factory “Lignums” and at its engineering unit, Iekārtu rūpnīca. Thanks are also due to Latvijas Finieris for giving LMNA members and the event's guests the chance to come together in shared work – it is on land owned by the company at “Branki” in Dobele municipality that 12,000 young birches with a small admixture of spruce are now reaching for the sun across nine hectares. Among them is a single oak, planted during the event by Diana Raitelaitienė, chair of the Lithuanian Forest Sector Trade Union, as a symbol of friendship and solidarity between the two nations, underlining their shared history and the independence won anew 35 years ago, including the right to organise in trade unions.
Social dialogue partners stress the need to stick together
It certainly should be noted, though, that the trade union movement in the Baltic states has a considerably longer history. The first major strike in Latvia took place in 1870. Tellingly, it happened at the Vērmanis sawmill, which shows that people in the forest sector have been outspoken in every era. On 7 April 1990, too, when the then Trade Union of Workers in the Forest, Paper and Woodworking Industry said a firm “no” to the USSR trade union structure at its regular republic-wide congress and broke away from it, Latvia's declaration of independence had not yet been signed. That came a month later – on 4 May. This year, marking the 35th anniversary of that historic event, the LMNA flag was re-consecrated on 7 April 2025 at St Albert's Roman Catholic Church in Riga.
The Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS) is also slightly younger than LMNA, and celebrates its own 35th anniversary this year on 25 May. Back then, 19 LMNA representatives took part in the founding of LBAS at the 13th Congress of Latvian Trade Unions. “In the forest sector we can often see that, however heated the discussions, a common denominator is always reached,” LBAS chair Egils Baldzēns acknowledged in his address. “In my view that is of great value, because only by listening to one another and taking everyone's interests into account can we arrive at sustainable competitiveness that delivers a return for Latvian society as a whole.”
Representing the state side of the tripartite social dialogue, Māris Liopa – adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and chairman of the Forest Certification Council of Latvia – conveyed greetings from Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze to everyone present at the opening of LMNA's 35th anniversary event. He too expressed the conviction that in these difficult times the sector must stick together, and highlighted the importance of social dialogue in smoothing over disagreements.
The Forest Days tradition, which began in Latvia 100 years ago, was reborn after the restoration of independence as a forward-looking celebration of land management work that unites the sector and society alike. Many companies in the sector actively keep the tradition alive today, coming together for an annual staff celebration. Among them is Latvijas Finieris, which has also carried it over to its Lithuanian and Estonian units. On 25 April the company's staff were again well represented at “Branki” – more than 90% of the employees of the group's Latvian companies belong to the trade union.
“The forest sector has always been associated with stability,” said Uldis Biķis, chairman of the supervisory board of Latvijas Finieris, drawing parallels in his address between historic events and what is happening today. “When the country's independence was still taking shape and LMNA was being born in its present form, every small workplace organisation in the companies first took its own decision – which side it chose to be on. It started with each individual person, with each workforce. Talked through together, dreamed together. On the barricades, too, forestry people were the first who were not afraid to make the decision to drive to Riga with forest machinery and defend their country. In just the same way now, when Russia's brutal full-scale war in Ukraine began, forest sector companies were the first to come forward with clear and substantial support for the Ukrainian people. If you added up the sums donated privately, by companies and by organisations, I am convinced that more than a third comes from the forest sector alone, and more than half from sectors that work with the land. It may be symbolic, but we will not take the land with us in wartime. So, as we prepare for war, we know what we will be fighting for.” At the same time, Uldis Biķis urged people to consider how united and how active the sector's representatives are today in defending their work and their right to manage their own land. As an example he cited the Gauja National Park, whose management plan provides for tree planting in the forest to be ruled out, symbolically portraying it as reprehensible, unnatural conduct.
The anniversary year
The joint tree planting was the central event marking LMNA's 35th anniversary, but not the only one. Smaller-scale activities are planned throughout the year, and on 17–18 September, in cooperation with EFBWW, Riga will host an international seminar “Forests of the future: paving the way to EU carbon neutrality through sustainable management practices and circular wood-based products”.
At the start of the year the trade union launched a redesigned website with expanded content, www.lmna.lv, including a convenient online application system that makes it easier to become an LMNA member. The organisation's visual identity has also been refreshed in the anniversary year – the logo has been improved, brand guidelines clearly defined, and a new presentation style and other visual elements developed. This clearly shows that, in affirming its role in social dialogue in the forest sector, LMNA is keeping up with the times and providing easier access to information about the trade union's work.
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