JHL (03.02.2017 - Heikki Jokinen) The new JHL Union Council will be elected by direct ballot between 13.3. and 29.3.2017. The last date to enrol candidates for the election was at the end of January and there will be 1,176 candidates standing for Council seats.
The Union Council consists of 120 representatives. The new Union Council will meet in Helsinki 5.–7.6.2017 and will then elect the Union President, the two Chief Executive Officers and the Executive Committee.
The Council is the supreme policy making body of JHL. It also decides on the Union strategy, plan of action, budget, membership dues and approval for national collective agreements. The term the Council sits for is five years.
The election system guarantees a fair share of the seats to each bargaining sector. Members of the council are elected from 11 different geographical districts.
The candidates are from 406 different local chapters. The number of female candidates is 635 and male candidates 541.
JHL spurred the Union members to set up as a candidate with a campaign and a video encouraging people to step into the decisionmakers' shoes.
In the previous JHL Union Council elections in 2012 the Social Democrats won 85 seats on the 120-member Council, the Left Alliance 35. The lists for the Centre Party, the Greens and the Finns Party received 0.9 - 0.3 per cent of the votes each and ended up with no seats on the Council.
In 2012, altogether there were 1,160 candidates. Over 37 per cent of the JHL members participated in the direct ballot during that election. They elected 67 women and 53 men in the Council.