Helsinki (09.04.2007 - Juhani Artto) A full merger is the more promising option than either closer cooperation or a model somewhere in between these two options. Thus concludes Lauri Lyly, the director of SAK's bargaining department, who was in December 2006 commissioned by six industrial trade unions to map options for their future relations.
The six unions involved are (rank and file members in 2006)
The Chemical Workers' Union (47 600)
The Electrical Workers' Union (32 300)
The Media Union (24 200)
The Paper Workers' Union (47 100)
The Wood and Allied Workers' Union (45 600)
The Metalworkers' Union (165 500)
Lyly proposes that the new union (made up of a coming together of the above), TEAM, as Lyly calls it, would begin to function at the beginning of 2010.
The union must be proactive
TEAM would consist of nine "rather independent" sectors. Three of them would have rank and file members of only one present union. Each of the six other sectors would have rank and file members from at least two of the present unions*. It is probable that this division aspect into various sectors will be something which will be hotly debated in discussions on Lyly's proposals.
However, far more important, for the future of the 360 000 rank and file members of the six unions, might be Lyly's proposal to make union policy
much more proactive than the present one.
The proactive safeguarding of interests emphasises labour force and vocational training policies, industrial policy and efforts to enhance work
places, Lyly explains. "All this demands also research and its application at the work places."
"Presently, unions are not able to widely enough perform this kind of safeguarding of interests."
With a proactive stance designed to safeguard interests the trade union movement will have an impact on the transformation of the industrial, occupational and educational structures. The goal is that rank and file members in withering industries and in vanishing occupations do not face changes empty-handed but are trained in good time to meet new demands. This also corresponds to the challenges and interests of society as a whole.
Larger coverage for collective agreements
The industries, whose wage-earners the six unions represent, in the main, account for 75 - 80 per cent of Finnish exports. Lyly believes that in the
future single collective agreements will cover more varied employee groups than now. Most of the salaried employees of the same industries are
organised in the Union of Salaried Employees TU.
In 2001, in an interview with Trade Union News from Finland, Lyly said that in his long-term vision "the social partners in each industry will agree on
the basic working conditions of both wage-earners and salaried employees in a single national agreement". If Lyly's proposals lead to the creation of TEAM, his vision from 2001 will have taken a long step forward.
Lyly reminds us that the better the union covers the value chain in the production and services, the stronger control the union has over the whole
chain. Thus we are able to "sell" industrial peace for the whole value chain, Lyly emphasises. "This is very significant for employers."
At the end of his report Lyly promises that the merger would create the strongest trade union organisation in Finland. But: "The challenge is that
rank and file members should be ready to make the largest trade union in Finland." The six unions cannot be merged into one single union, the TEAM, unless a large majority of the rank and file members of the six unions support the merger.
About 12 300 shop stewards
Presently the six unions have 53 collective agreements. With only a few exceptions they are national and of a generally binding character. At work
places, covered by the six unions, daily safeguarding of interests is entrusted to and performed by about 12 300 shop stewards. The six unions have 360 employees.
Lyly prepared the 119, page report in close cooperation with the six unions but all the conclusions are his own personal proposals. Lyly did not reveal his conclusions even to the leaders of the six unions before the very same day, 4 April, when the whole report was made public for all those able to read Finnish.
In the coming weeks and months all six unions will define their preliminary positions on Lyly's proposals. Final decisions will be in the hands of each
union's Congress. And within each congress a large majority is needed to make the necessary changes to the union rules.
- - - - - - - - - -
*The nine sectors (present unions of their rank and file members):
(1) Graphical industry sector (Media Union)
(2) Wood product sector (Wood and Allied Workers' Union)
(3) Environment sector (Wood and Allied Workers' Union)
(4) Consumer goods sector (Chemical Workers' Union and Electrical Workers' Union)
(5) Chemical industry sector (Chemical Workers' Union, Electrical Workers' Union, Paper Workers' Unions and Wood and Allied Workers' Union)
(6) Logistics sector (Chemical Workers' Union, Metal Workers' Union and Wood and Allied Workers' Union)
(7) Energy, IT and electricity sector (Chemical Workers' Union, Metal Workers' Union and Electrical Workers' Union)
(8) Metal and electronics sector (Metal Workers' Union and Electrical Workers' Union)
(9) Paper industry sector (Paper Workers' Unions and Electrical Workers' Union)
Read also:
Merger, closer cooperation or ...? SAK's Lyly maps options for future relations between six industrial trade unions (29.12.2006)
An exception in SAK: The Electrical Workers' Union organises employees both on a trade and an industry basis (05.03.2001)