Strikes in Finnish ports and road transport to continue after workers turn down CBA
The Finnish Transport Workers’ Union (AKT) on Sunday rejected National Conciliator Leo Suomaa’s proposal for a new two-year collective bargaining agreement for stevedores, arguing that the proposal offered pay rises that fall short of those in manufacturing industries and failed to address any other terms and conditions of employment, according to Helsinki Times.
AKT on Wednesday launched a series of strikes in ports and three segments of road transport – lorries, tankers and oil products – in an attempt to secure pay rises that prevent the erosion of real wages.
The stevedore strike alone has effectively halted all foreign goods trade.
The strikes have had an impact on several other sectors of society, too, according to YLE. The Finnish public broadcasting company reported during the course of last week that the transport sector strikes can have an impact on can and bottle recycling machines, the transfer of media between libraries, the availability of petrol at service station, waste management services, and raw material availability at manufacturing sites.
The Finnish Post and Logistics Union (PAU), meanwhile, has staged a sympathy strike that will delay letter deliveries by one to two weeks and parcel deliveries by five to seven days due to a temporary backlog at the logistics centre of Posti.
Unless a breakthrough is achieved in the collective bargaining talks, AKT is set to launch another series of strikes on 1 March.
