Work in Finnish ports came to a halt yesterday due to ACP solidarity

Steveco has port terminals in Helsinki and Kotka.

Immonen emphasized to the news agency that the work stoppage was organized at a particularly difficult time, as there is already container congestion in the ports after the holidays and because there will not be a full working week next week due to the Epiphany.

– It will take time for the situation to return to normal. It won’t happen in a couple of days. “

ACP on Monday announced The members covered by the collective agreement of its stevedores and port operators do not work for a day as a show of solidarity with the Keitele Group to the Confederation of Finnish Industry. Earlier this month, the Confederation of Finnish Industry launched a boycott of work and a ban on overtime at the sites of a mechanical wood processing company, accusing it of reluctance to start company-specific collective bargaining.

ACP members have refused to handle Keitele Group’s goods in Finnish ports since Tuesday 21 December. The Helsinki District Court on Thursday ordered the union to end the boycott with a € 1 million fine and later dismissed the ACP appeal.

The ACP claimed on Monday that its outage was justified because an attempt was being made to break its boycott in the port of Loviisa in Valko.

“We have now come to the conclusion that people have tried to stop us from using legal means of pressure. We are quite close to the core of trade unions and labor rights. With the demonstration, we are trying to remind you that trade union and labor dispute rights remain a fundamental right of employees in Finland. Ismo Kokko, The ACP President told BTI.

The industrial action sparked criticism from employers’ organizations.

The forest industry said press release that the outage causes significant loss of export earnings and describes the union’s activities as “irresponsible” and its consequences as “unresponsive”.

“Disruption of export shipments is not only a temporary nuisance, but can, at worst, lead to production downtime and damage the reputation of reliable suppliers among customers,” said Jyrki Peisa, Director of the Forest Industry.

The Confederation of Finnish Industries EK estimates that the downtime will affect companies that are not involved in any way in the current labor dispute.

“The movement shows the weakness of our country’s peace legislation. Almost all of our country’s foreign trade is stalled as a result of a labor dispute from one company, ”the employers’ association complained. exemption.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT

Source: The Nordic Page