Archive

Helsinki (30.06.1999 - Juhani Artto) There was a brief moment of tension this morning at the 9th ETUC Congress when a Turkish trade union leader defended the death penalty given to Kurdish PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Before the Turkish speaker made this contribution, ETUC General Secretary Emilio Gabaglio had condemned yesterday's court decision. The Turkish speaker had to leave the floor without no applause whatsoever from over 600 delegates present. "Democracy has no need for death penalties" was the comment from the chair of the meeting.

The high point of the morning was the speech of the new ILO Director General Juan Somavia. "The benefits of the global economy are not reaching people around the world. The global economy does not pass a human decency test."

Somavia demanded a new socio-economic paradigm for the world. To solve people's problems, such as unemployment, various sectors of life must be globally integrated, just as the economy is integrating. Insofar as problems are handled in a segmented manner it is difficult to solve them, the former Chilean Allende government minister from the early 1970s argued.

Helsinki (29.06.1999 - Juhani Artto) More than 600 delegates at the opening session of the 9th ETUC Congress warmly greeted the attendance and address of European Commission President (designate) Romano Prodi. Mr Prodi expressed in strong terms his support for continued trade union participation in European social dialogue between the labour market partners, governments and the Commission.

This is needed not only for working life and social issues but also in smoothing the path to EU enlargement. "Your contribution in this context is absolutely crucial", Prodi enthused.

He was cautious, however, over defining the context of cooperation and dialogue. "Europe has the best safety nets in the world in the form of job security legislation, collective agreements and social protection systems. These are valuable achievements."

"But we have offered too many exits from the labour market and not enough springboards to new opportunities. For the future, new skills and new jobs – not benefits – must be the first priority", he emphasised.

Helsinki (28.06.1999 - Juhani Artto) The opening ceremonies for the four-yearly ETUC* Congress will be held tomorrow morning. Today, the delegates warmed up for the Congress by broadly discussing ways to improve gender equality in working life.

Today's Equality Conference was historic in two ways which reflect changing attitudes in the European trade union movement towards the whole problem of gender equality.

In contrast with the traditional "Women's Conference" with only female participants, the male representatives at the ETUC Congress were also invited to participate in the equality discussion. This approach was also emphasised in the speeches: lack of equality has a negative impact not only on female employees but also on their male colleagues and even on enterprises.

Helsinki (10.06.1999 - Juhani Artto) In the last few years the proportion of older workers among unemployed commercial workers has steadily increased. Is age discrimination one of the reasons for this trend? This question was the subject of a new study commissioned by the Commercial Workers Union.

The study indicates that unemployed commercial workers over 50 years of age are seriously at risk of becoming victims of ageism, even though age discrimination is prohibited by law in Finland. However, Anne Kouvonen, the author of the study, is cautious in her conclusions.

The most alarming evidence comes from figures on how often various age groups were invited to recruitment interviews during the last twelve months.

Helsinki (09.06.1999 - Juhani Artto) Five years ago two State-owned companies, Finland's Neste and Norway's Statoil, merged their petrochemical sections and formed the new Fenno-Norwegian company Borealis.

In 1997 Neste sold its Borealis shares to Austria's State-owned oil company OMV and Abu Dhabi's IPIC.

A few months ago Borealis announced a plan to reduce its staffing by the end of the year 2000 by 850 employees, 140 of them at its plant in Porvoo near Helsinki.

The well organised and experienced Finnish workers did not accept the plan and began to fight back in various ways. They began by banning all overtime work, then refused to participate in any improvement discussions and added pressure with walkouts and protest actions at loading and unloading sites. Except for the highest ranks, salaried staff also followed the workers' example.

men's wages were 24 per cent higher than women's pay

1 FIM = 0.167 Euros
1 FIM = 0.171 USD (08.06.1999)

source: The Confederation of Finnish
Industry and Employers

Helsinki (01.05.1999 - Juhani Artto) One of the central elements in Finnish political organisation is tripartite co-operation between by the goverment, employer organisations and trade unions.

Like its predecessor, Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen's new coalition government has adopted tripartite co-operation as one of its principles. This was clearly reflected in the programme negotiations which took place before forming the government. Proposals made by the trade unions were taken seriously and several were included in the programme.

"Nowadays, the government programme has real significance. It lists the tasks to which the coalition is committed", says Kirsti Palanko-Laaka, a Department Head at SAK. As Finland's largest central trade union organisation, SAK listed its own goals for the government programme to be negotiated after the March 1999 parliamentary elections as long as one year in advance. Early this year SAK specified its objectives and compiled a document using the language of the future government's programme.

Helsinki (30.04.1999 - Juhani Artto) In March the Finnish people elected a new Parliament for four years. As in previous assemblies, trade unions are well represented in the new Parliament.

Of the 200 MPs, 118 are members of various trade unions. Akava, the smallest central trade union organisation which organises academically qualified staff, now has 63 MPs. The largest central trade union organisation SAK has 36, ten of whom are members of the Municipal Workers' Union. Nineteen MPs are members of STTK trade unions.

Despite the large number of union members in Parliament, there is no crossbench trade union lobby in the chamber. The ranks of union member MPs are divided in ideological and political directions in the same way as Parliament itself.

Helsinki (21.04.1999 - Juhani Artto) The personal computer hardware and software package negotiated last summer by the central organisation SAK on behalf of the 1.1 million members of its affiliated trade unions has sold well. Over a few months more than 12,000 union members took advantage of the offer. Most of these members (76 per cent) chose the leasing alternative, while the remainder bought the whole package outright.

The package consisted of a Pentium PC with all peripherals and programmes, an Internet connection and everything the ordinary union member's family needs at home.

Encouraged by the success of the initial package, SAK has negotiated a new, updated combination of hardware and software from its suppliers. Sources at SAK believe that several thousand families will seize this opportunity.

Helsinki (14.04.1999 - Juhani Artto) SAK, the largest central trade union in Finland, states that the problems of Kosovo can be solved only at the negotiation table. "President Slobodan Milosevic has to end the atrocities against the Albanian population and return to the negotiation table to relieve the crisis", SAK emphasises.

"Among the thousands of civilian victims are the trade union activists who have also suffered. The chairman of the Council of Kosovo's Independent Central Organisation of Trade Unions BSPK has been killed and the union's President has been arrested."

"The trade union movement also plays an important role in starting the extremely difficult peace process and reconstruction", SAK says.