Union bans overtime in response to job cuts at Sonera
Foilsithe: 10 September 2001
Sonera, the Finnish telecommunications operator, has announced that it will reduce its workforce by 10% (or 1,000 employees). In September 2001, TLL, the union representing clerical employees at Sonera, banned overtime work by its members at the company in a move aimed at revealing that there is not really a surplus of 1,000 staff at the firm.
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Sonera, the Finnish telecommunications operator, has announced that it will reduce its workforce by 10% (or 1,000 employees). In September 2001, TLL, the union representing clerical employees at Sonera, banned overtime work by its members at the company in a move aimed at revealing that there is not really a surplus of 1,000 staff at the firm.
The Finnish telecommunications operator Sonera is facing heavy debts, linked to the overall downturn in the telecommunications sector and its participation in the auctions of 'third-generation' mobile telecommunications licences in spring 2000. The company bought licences at top prices in several European countries, with the German licence proving especially expensive. In this context, the company decided in late August 2001 to cut its personnel by 10%, or about 1,000 employees (FI0108100F). Cooperation talks with employee representatives over the proposed job losses are currently underway.
The company justified the job cuts and structural changes by referring to its need to eliminate overlaps and make its operations more effective. In September 2001, the Communications Union (Tietoliikenneliitto, TLL), which represents clerical staff at the company, decided to ban overtime work by its members at Sonera as a counter-measure to the job cuts. The ban came into force on 5 September and will end when the cooperation talks over the workforce reduction have been finalised. The union believes that this action will partially help to expose how many overlaps in operations there really are and how large a workforce the functions of Sonera require. TLL states that if Sonera has a surplus of 1,000 employees, there should not be any need for overtime work. According to the union, a very substantial amount of overtime is currently worked in Sonera units – often unofficially – by the present workforce. The chair of TLL, Tapio Vaahtokivi, says that this overtime work is often performed under 'silent pressure'. The union fears that the situation at the company may become untenable also for those who keep their jobs. TLL also says that it will investigate the lawfulness of the forthcoming redundancies.
The personnel manager of Sonera, Juha Pentti, denies the union's claims about overtime work. According to him, the ban has no practical meaning because overtime work hardly exists at the firm. Further, he estimates that the redundancies will be limited to a couple of hundred employees, with majority of the personnel cuts carried out by non-renewal of fixed-term contracts and by natural wastage. For the Allianssi employers' organisation, to which Sonera belongs, Lasse Sevä condemned TLL's overtime ban as illegal and stated that Alliansi was considering taking the case to the industrial tribunal.
The next moves in the dispute should become apparent during the cooperation talks between management and employee representatives.
Molann Eurofound an foilsiúchán seo a lua ar an mbealach seo a leanas.
Eurofound (2001), Union bans overtime in response to job cuts at Sonera, article.
