Growth in unionisation among clerical staff at Nokia

According to trade unions, the trade union density level among upper clerical employees at the multinational group Nokia has increased rapidly in recent years. Currently, the trade union density of this group of employees is estimated to stand at about 70%, compared with just 30% prior to 2003.

Trade union density levels at the Finnish-based multinational corporation Nokia has traditionally been quite low, according to trade unions in Finland. However, this situation has begun to change, with trade union density among clerical employees at Nokia, in particular, increasing rapidly in recent years. According to the trade unions, the union density level of upper clerical employees has increased to about 70% from around 30% before 2003.

Union density levels at Nokia

The Chair of the Union of Salaried Employees (Toimihenkilöunioni, TU), Antti Rinne, stated that TU alone has registered some 1,500 new members from Nokia during the past six months. Moreover, a spokesperson from the Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Ylempien Toimihenkilöiden Neuvottelujärjestö, YTN), Pertti Porokari, confirmed that its membership consists of 10,500 Nokia employees, which includes 55% of Nokia’s 19,000 upper clerical employees. According to Mr Porokari, the real union density at Nokia amounts to about 70%, since not all employees inform the union of who their employer is. YTN is also the collective bargaining organisation for the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals (Akateemisten Toimihenkilöiden Keskusjärjestö, AKAVA) in the private sector.

Growing trend of hidden unionisation

According to Mr Rinne of TU, employees often join trade unions secretly without informing their employer. Mr Rinne attributes this to fear on the part of the employee and to the poor treatment of shop stewards in the company. He explains that shop stewards’ rights are not always respected by the company (FI0502203F), arguing that: ‘Employees are paying their membership fee by themselves, because they do not want to tell that they have joined the union’. Mr Porokari of YTN confirms that trade union density at Nokia is rapidly increasing and that a growing trend has been emerging in Nokia whereby upper clerical employees are paying their union membership fees themselves. He added that ‘hidden unionisation’ has increasingly been taking the place of ‘open unionisation’.

A Nokia spokesperson, Päivyt Tallqvist, stated that the claims of discrimination relating to hidden unionisation are totally groundless, and that the employer does not seek to determine whether or not an individual employee is a member of a trade union. In fact, Nokia management were shocked by claims that the company would in any way try to prevent the unionisation of its employees. On the contrary, Nokia insists that it maintains open relations and cooperation with all of the trade unions represented in the company. YTN’s Mr Porokari also admitted that Nokia does not discriminate against unionised employees in the event of redundancies.

Planned job cuts

Nokia and Siemens are in the process of merging their telecoms network divisions to form Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia Siemens has launched discussions with its European personnel on the product selection of the merged company. As a result of these measures, the company plans to cut between 10% and 15% of its combined 60,000 workforce globally, which would result in the loss of between 6,000 and 9,000 jobs over the next four years.

Nokia has announced that it plans to implement up to 700 of these job cuts. The company has stated that it hopes to redeploy staff within the company, but that it will also be seeking voluntary redundancies. In the near future, the company estimates that a maximum of 700 employees in branches worldwide, including about 340 employees in Finland, will be affected by these adjustments.

YTN representative Pertti Porokari explained that there has always been an upsurge in unionisation at Nokia whenever the company has entered into negotiations on the issue of redundancies.

Protests at Nokia

In the spring of 2007, clerical employees at Nokia organised several protests in the cities of Oulu in central Finland, and Tampere and Helsinki in the south of the country. Local branches of trade unions have been protesting against the company’s personnel policy and planned redundancies at a time when the company is proving to be successful. The atmosphere at Nokia has been further disrupted by the company’s decision to withhold bonuses in 2006 and by its plans to downsize task-specific merit awards for clerical employees.

Commentary

Arguments concerning hidden unionisation have sparked considerable controversy in Finnish industrial relations. One accurate explanation for hidden unionisation is the fact that rivalry for new members between the trade unions has become more aggressive. TU in particular has been trying to entice new members away from YTN with the promise of better member benefits. Nonetheless, the fact that employees are joining trade unions and paying for membership fees themselves does not necessarily mean that employees are organising secretly; rather, different workplaces and branches have varying traditions in this matter.

Pertti Jokivuori, Statistics Finland