JHL is involved in the strike of export sectors, work will cease for two weeks in ports and rail freight transports

Several SAK-affiliated trade unions announced extensive strikes on Wednesday 6 March. The strikes will stop Finland’s export on 11 March. The Government itself has brought on the strikes with its stubborn cost-cutting policy, reminds President of the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, Håkan Ekström.

– The Government is pushing for drastic cuts to social security and employee rights. The legislative proposals heavily favour employers. Proper negotiations on the reforms have not been conducted at any stage. JHL is ready to negotiate on working life reforms, but we refuse to succumb to one-sided dictation.

Approximately one thousand Trade Union JHL members will be on strike. JHL’s strikes will affect rail freight transport and the operations of numerous ports around Finland. A list of all the strike locations is at the end of the press release. Work tasks that must be performed in order to protect people's life, health or property are ruled out of the strikes. There is also an unwillingness to endanger Finland’s security of supply with the strikes.

Trade union JHL will offer financial assistance to other trade unions that have a large number of members on strike.

– Defending the terms and conditions of employment is a shared matter for the entire trade union movement. We want to show our support to all the employees taking part in the strike, Ekström emphasises.

The Government has already made cuts to, say, housing allowance and unemployment security. The social security reforms will increase inequality and strongly affect those who already now have a small income. Some of the cuts will burden the same people, meaning that these people will lose money as a result of cuts made to several benefits.

The Government also seeks to undermine the general applicability of collective agreements, question the position of shop stewards and limit employees’ right to strike. The reforms are justified by improving the economic outlook and the employment rate. In reality, there is no calculation on what the effects on employment are if, say, sympathy strikes are limited.

One of the Government’s goals is to tie the pay raises of all sectors to a so-called export model. In practice, that would mean that no sector would get larger raises than the export industry sectors. One would not be able to agree otherwise on this, not even under the leadership of the National Conciliator.

The pay differences between men and women are already now larger in Finland than in EU countries on average, Ekström reminds.

– We cannot accept a model that would instil pay differences in Finland for an eternity. For instance, early childhood education and care and elderly care are already suffering from a shortage of labour. It will be even more difficult for them to attract new employees if the differences in pay aren’t fixed.

More information:
JHL President Håkan Ekström 040 828 2865

JHL's strike locations Monday 11 March 2024 12.01 am – Sunday 24 March 2024 11.59 pm

The political industrial action applies to work done in the following workplaces covered by Service Sector Employers Palta’s collective agreement:

• Etelä-Suomen Satamapalvelut Oy
• Helsingin Satama Oy
• Kokkolan Satama Oy
• Kvarkenhamnar Aktiebolag, Filial I Finland/Merenkurkun Satamat Oy (Vaasa)
• Loviisan Satama Oy
• Naantalin Satama Oy
• Oulun Satama Oy
• Porin Satama Oy
• Raahen Satama Oy
• Rauman Satama Oy
• Silverstone Bay Logistics Oy
• Olmar Pori Oy

The political industrial action applies to work done in the following workplaces covered by employers’ association Avaintyönantajat Avainta’s collective agreement:

• Turun Satama Oy
• Uudenkaupungin Satama Oy
• HaminaKotka Satama Oy
• Kemin Satama Oy
• Hangon Satama-Hangö Hamn Oy Ab

Other work tasks and workplaces subject to the political industrial action

• VR Group: VR Transpoint
• North Rail Oy
• Olmar HaminaKotka Oy (RP Group)

Length of the political industrial action

The political industrial action applies to work shifts that start between 12.01 am on Monday 11 March 2024 and 11.59 pm on Sunday 24 March 2024. Work tasks that must be performed in order to protect people's life, health or property are ruled out of the industrial action. In addition, work supporting passenger traffic in Katajanokka Terminal, Olympia Terminal and West Terminal in Helsinki, as well as work done in the passenger ports of Turku, Naantali and Vaasa are ruled out of the industrial action.