The three-week strike is scheduled to begin on January 13th.
“We have repeatedly asked the company’s management not to violate the terms, conditions and rights of employees, but to negotiate them fairly with the employee representative,” stated Riku Aalto, Chairman of the Confederation of Finnish Industry. “These requests have fallen on deaf ears.”
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He described the situation as exceptionally inflammatory.
Ilkka KylävainioKeitele Group’s Chairman of the Board emphasizes that the company has no obligation to negotiate terms with a union of 200,000 members, as only a small proportion of its employees are members. The Confederation of Finnish Industry, for its part, has stated that trade union membership is over 50 per cent.
“The Confederation of Finnish Industry wants to utilize a small minority to represent the entire staff. We have a duty to negotiate with them, Kylävainio said To Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday.
He also saw that the controversy stemmed not from attempts to change working conditions, but rather from the union’s desire to control power.
According to the Confederation of Finnish Industry, Keitele Group has marked the terms it approved next year as confidential, which prevents them from discussing it with third parties. As a result, the union has offered employees the opportunity to review their employment contract and terms anonymously.
“All employees have the right to seek the help of a trade union, and employers cannot dilute or dictate this right,” Aalto said.
The controversy has led to a one-day strike by drivers in ports across Finland. Ismo Kokko, President of the Transport Trade Union (ACP), told me YLE on Wednesday that workers are currently fighting for their constitutional rights.
“We live in times that determine whether we have the right to organize and dispute in Finland.”
The work stoppage, which stopped the movement of goods in the ports, is more than a protest against the Keitele Group, Kokko emphasized. “Employers have decided to withdraw from the negotiations mainly in the forest industry. The next step is to find an obstacle to the employee’s right to organize and dispute. That’s a bigger principle here. “
The local labor dispute, which affects ports across the country, is another indication of the obsolescence of labor legislation in Finland. Ilkka Oksala, Director of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK). He stressed that the shutdown on Tuesday prevented the handling of goods worth about 350 million euros.
“It is absolutely incredible that as a result of a labor dispute between one company, all Finnish ports will be closed and our foreign trade will stop,” he told YLE.
“The ACP has completely lost its sense of proportionality here.”
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page