Helsinki (19.05.2003 - Juhani Artto) Finland is one of a handful of countries where a large majority of wage and salary earners have joined trade unions. A new survey* published in February 2003 indicates that the organising rate in 2001 was over 70 per cent. Comparison with the previous survey reviewing the situation in 1994 sends a warning signal to the union movement, however. In seven years the organising rate has fallen by about 7 percentage points.
Over two million trade unionists in a nation of five million people
At the end of 2001 affiliates to the three central trade union confederations had a total of 2,082,265 rank and file members. The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions - SAK (25 unions) had 51.1 per cent of these, while the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees – STTK (22 unions) had 29.4 per cent and the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland – Akava (33 unions) had 19.5 per cent.
The total number of rank and file members was 2,064,033 in 1994 and 1,877,000 in 1989. Over the period from 1994 to 2001 SAK declined by about 50,000 members and STTK by about 10,000k, while Akava expanded by some 80,000 members.
The proportion of "special groups" (pensioners, students, entrepreneurs, non-paying members etc.) increased in all three confederations. This proportion was 21.6 per cent in SAK, 16.6 per cent in STTK and 28,5 per cent in Akava. Most of the almost 11,000 entrepreneurs belonged to unions affiliated to Akava.
In 2001 SAK-affiliated trade unions had the highest proportion of unemployed in rank and file members (8.6 per cent). The corresponding percentage was 4.3 in STTK and 2.1 in Akava. The worst unemployment levels in the SAK segment were in the food, textiles, garment, wood and construction industries and in the municipal sector.
Only 12,000 union members worked abroad. These members had a higher educational level than the average rank and file membership.
Concerns over age structure
In 2001 the proportion of women in the trade unions was 53 per cent, representing an increase of 2 percentage units over the seven years between surveys. SAK and Akava had narrowly a male majority, but in the STTK segment 68.5 per cent of the rank and file members were women. This high proportion of women is largely due to the presence of health care employees in STTK-affiliated unions.
The age structure gives cause for concern. In 2001 only 37.7 per cent of the rank and file members were below 40 years of age. The proportion of those over 50 was 37.8 per cent. This is partly explained by the membership of students and pensioners in the unions, and partly by the demographic profile of the population.
40.0 per cent of organised labour worked in public services and 27.6 per cent in private services. The proportion of industry employees was 31.2 per cent, with 1.2 per cent working in primary production.
The most significant differences between the confederation profiles was that SAK clearly had a larger proportion of industry (including construction industry) employees (43.6 per cent) and a correspondingly much lower proportion of public service employees (27.1 per cent) than STTK and Akava. In both STTK and Akava there was a public service employees' majority in 2001. Compared to the situation in 1994 the proportion of private service employees increased considerably both in STTK and Akava.
"Present percentages represent progress rather than setbacks"
The best indicator of the organising rate is reached by dividing the number of union members in or out of work by the total size of the labour market. In 2001 this proportion was 71.2 per cent, which is slightly less than in 1989 (71.9 per cent) but clearly less than in 1994 (78.5 per cent).
In his commentary on the result of his survey, researcher Lasse Ahtiainen explains the fall by the increased popularity of the non-union unemployment benefit fund and the lower organising rate of young employees and of those in casual jobs.
While finding cause for alarm, the leader writer in SAK's magazine Palkkatyöläinen also identifies less worrying factors bearing on the fall in the organising rate. The writer recalls that the 1994 survey was conducted at the height of early 1990s recession: "As unemployment skyrocketed, new members seeking security in both collective agreements and unemployment benefit funds flowed freely into the unions."
"With this in mind, and coupled with the radical restructuring of working life that took place in the 1990s, the present percentages represent progress rather than setbacks. During the recession 450,000 mostly full-time jobs were lost, and slightly less than half of these have been regained. There still are 250,000 unemployed and almost 200,000 workers are employed in various casual jobs."
"Unemployment alone already explains a major part of the decline in rank and file membership. Large workplaces that are relatively easy to organise have also been broken up, employment relationships have been divided into short-term jobs, and there is a great deal of friction in integrating young people into working life and the trade unions."
The editorialist also points out that the image of the trade union movement as the sole defender of the interests of wage and salary earners has steadily strengthened over the last few years.
The best-organised employees work in public services
In 2001 the organising rate was 75.6 per cent for women, and 66.8 per cent for men. The highest overall rate - 86.6 per cent - was found in public services with a large female majority. The organising rate was 83.8 per cent in industry and 55.3 per cent in private services.
About 53 per cent of employees under 30 years of age were organised in 1994. In 2001 this proportion was only 40 per cent. The organising rate of the unemployed fell still further. In 1994 it was 72 per cent, but by 2001 only 53 per cent.
SAK, STTK and Akava estimates of the organising rate in the industries covered by their affiliated organisations are somewhat higher than the figures presented in the Ministry of Labour survey. SAK gives its own organising rate as 84.2 per cent, Akava as 77.6 per cent and STTK as 76.3 per cent.
There is broad agreement in the trade union movement that there are many challenges involved in maintaining the high organising rate. The traditional ways of recruiting new members and keeping the existing membership remain valuable, but new methods are also urgently needed. Many unions are actively seeking such methods and are ready to apply them in their daily work.
*Lasse Ahtiainen, Palkansaajien järjestäytyminen Suomessa vuonna 2001 [Employee organisation in Finland in 2001], Finnish Ministry of Labour 2003