The main Finnish employers' organisations, TT and PT, were concerned by the sympathy strikes and similar action which occurred during the sectoral collective bargaining round in spring 2000. In May, they demanded action from the government to amend existing regulations on industrial action. The SAK trade union confederation responded with a stern warning to the government not to interfere with the right to strike. The Prime Minister stated that the social partners should agree among themselves on the "rules of the game".
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The main Finnish employers' organisations, TT and PT, were concerned by the sympathy strikes and similar action which occurred during the sectoral collective bargaining round in spring 2000. In May, they demanded action from the government to amend existing regulations on industrial action. The SAK trade union confederation responded with a stern warning to the government not to interfere with the right to strike. The Prime Minister stated that the social partners should agree among themselves on the "rules of the game".
Several strikes occurred in the spring 2000 collective bargaining round, in sectors such as paper, transport and chemicals (FI0004142F). According to the employers, current legislation on industrial action and industrial peace should now be reviewed. They are concerned by sympathy strikes and "cross-strikes" - whereby both the striking workers and the workers in another subsector taking support action are members of the same union - which in their view cause insecurity for several months during the bargaining round, even among those sectors which have already concluded their agreements, by putting the "responsible conduct" of labour market activities in jeopardy.
The Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (Teollisuuden ja Työnantajain Keskusliitto, TT) and the Employers' Confederation of Service Industries (Palvelutyönantajat, PT) issued a joint statement on 25 May calling on the government to set up a tripartite preparatory body with the task of identifying the central problems in the industrial peace system and drawing up new "rules of the game" in order to resolve them.
The present industrial "peace obligation", based on existing legislation, does not extend to sympathy strikes and cross-strikes. Furthermore, these strikes do not require advance notice. According to the employers, the recently concluded sectoral bargaining round has shown that so-called "key groups" are resorting to such sympathy and cross-strikes more readily than before, and also systematically. Action of this kind is seen as neglecting the peace obligations in existing agreements and, by the use of pressure tactics, making outsiders to the dispute suffer from the ensuing damage.
The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö, SAK) has immediately and flatly rejected demands for restrictions on the right to strike, saying that a future centralised incomes policy round would be threatened if the legislation were amended. The coalition government, which includes two left-wing parties - the Social Democratic Party (Suomen Sosiaalidemokraattinen Puolue) and the Left-Wing Alliance (Vasemmistoliitto) - is keen to try to achieve such a long-term, moderate central incomes policy agreement in the forthcoming bargaining round. In response to the employers' proposal, the Social Democrat Prime Minister, Paavo Lipponen, stated that the social partners should agree among themselves on the rules of the game.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2000), Employers demand amendment of strike legislation, article.
