JHL (11.02.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) A large majority of Finnish trade unions are planning a new trade union confederation to replace the existing ones. Altogether 74 Finnish unions gathered to take part in a meeting in January to discuss the project, JHL among others.
There are now three trade union confederations in Finland. SAK, the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions is the largest one with a little over one million members. Just under half of the members of SAK-affiliated unions work in industry, about one third work in private services and one quarter work in the public sector. JHL is a member of SAK.
The second largest is the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK with 600,000 members and which mostly represents salaried employees. Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland, has 585,000 highly educated members mainly in academic and managerial professions.
The meeting had participants from all three confederations. It set out to explore the possibilities of establishing a single confederation to replace the three which currently exist. The goal is that the new confederation would be ready to commence its work by 2016.
The new confederation is determined to be politically neutral and will abide by and fulfil all the national and international tasks of the existing confederations.
JHL President Jarkko Eloranta was one of the chairs of the meeting. He is satisfied with the results and supports the idea. He stresses that working life and society as a whole have been changing a lot in recent years, and that these changes are ongoing.
“This is a question of our members' interests. The trade union movement needs broader shoulders and a more concerted course of action in taking care of members' interests and influencing decision makers. A new strong confederation is a good tool to address this need.”
Eloranta also believes that this would help the trade union movement to develop its structures and ways in which to act. “We could do for our members something we have not been in a position to do as of yet, and make our actions more effective.”
“This will make joining a union more attractive. It underlines that the best security for a wage and salary earner – for those with a job and those who are without employment alike - is a strong trade union movement.”
At the moment it seems to be that the project will mean a merger of SAK and STTK, with perhaps some unions from Akava. Akava has made it clear that it wants to stay independent.