NATIONAL CONCILIATOR
| FINLAND |
| VALTAKUNNANSOVITTELIJA
[RIKSFÖRLIKNINGSMAN] NATIONAL CONCILIATOR |
Public servant who plays a key role in the system for assisting the settlement of labour disputes (the term "conciliator" is used in the official English version of the 1962 Mediation in Labour Disputes Act, although the function performed amounts to what is more narrowly construed as mediation in the UK). The President of Finland appoints a national conciliator for four years at a time. It is the duty of the national conciliator to endeavour, as a preventive measure, to foster relations between employers and employees and their respective organizations. The functions of the post include carrying out actual mediation, either at the request of the parties in dispute or on the conciliator's own initiative, in labour disputes whose scale affects the whole country. This national conciliator directs the work of the district conciliators, and can also make proposals to the Ministry of Labour for the appointment of an ad hoc conciliator or conciliation board. See mediationconciliation of labour disputes.)
Please note: the European industrial relations glossaries were compiled between 1991 and 2003 and are not updated. For current material see the European industrial relations dictionary.