Helsinki (20.11.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) A group of leading Finnish forest industry companies - including UPM, Stora Enso and Metsä Group – are suing the former Chairperson of Trade Union Pro, Antti Rinne, for strike action in 2012. The 16 companies behind the suit are claiming 700 000 euro in damages.
Antti Rinne is now Chairperson of the Social Democratic Party and former Minister of Finance. In spring 2012 he was the head of Trade Union Pro and made the decision to go ahead with a planned strike earlier than announced.
At the time in question the collective agreements were no longer in force and negotiations aimed at new ones were ongoing. According to Finnish stipulations strikes shall be announced two weeks in advance and this was what Pro had done.
But the forest industry companies used this time to widely recruit strike-breakers. For this reason the Union felt compelled to start the strike a few days earlier than planned.
”The strike was announced correctly and in time”, Antti Rinne confirmed to the newspaper Iltalehti. ”But the employer tried to force employees to train other employees to do the strikers' work. It was wrong.”
Ari Tynys, shop steward at UPM Kymmene’s factory in Kymi informed Iltalehti that the employer tried to bring strike-breakers into the working place. ”We could not accept that.”
Now 16 member companies of the Finnish Forest Industries are claiming that Rinne and Trade Union Pro must pay them 700 000 euro in compensation. According to press reports the amount was first one million euro, but has now gone down.
Employers wanted secret court proceedings
Trade Union Pro contests the companies' claim for damages. Pro lawyer Kari Tiainen says that the companies saved more money in salaries for those on strike than they paid for those not on strike.
Tiainen also stresses that the rule of announcement times is outdated and has not been used as a basis for any court case since 1981. In the early 1990's there was a similar case where the prosecutor decided not to prosecute those on strike.
The forest companies originally wished to keep the case secret, but the court would not accept that. This suits Antti Rinne just fine. ”I have nothing to hide”, he says.
The Helsinki District Court began to hear the case on 17 November.
The Supreme Court absolved Antti Rinne in a similar case in October 2014. In that case 16 member companies of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries sued Rinne for not giving notification of strikes in time.