We have the right to strike

The Finnish consti­tu­tion guaran­tees the freedom to organise in a trade union. The right to strike is also guaran­teed under Finnish legislation.

A strike means emplo­yees tempo­ra­rily stop work. It can be a total work stoppage or cover only some part of the work done in the company or in the branch. The union decides the form, length and coverage of the strike. A strike is always a collec­tive measure, not individual.

Emplo­y­ment conti­nues during the strike, but without salary. To compen­sate for this loss, the unions offer strike pay. The union is respon­sible for the strike, not indivi­dual emplo­yees. The employer has no right to pressure or discri­mi­nate against striking people in any way, neither during the strike nor after it.

The Finnish consti­tu­tion guaran­tees the freedom to organise in a trade union.

Once a collec­tive agree­ment is signed strikes against it become illegal. Emplo­yers buy industrial peace with the agree­ment, too. During that time, even short strikes are consi­dered illegal. The Labour Court decides on such cases. It may also order the union or its local chapter to pay a fine. Indivi­dual union members never have to pay fines, always the union.

But, once the agree­ment expires, there is no legal restric­tion on strikes. The union planning to strike must deliver a strike warning no later than 14 days before the start of the strike. It is given to the employer and the National Conciliator.

There can also be fully legal strikes that do not focus on the collec­tive agree­ment. A sympathy strike is organised to show support for the strike of another branch or union. It is a solida­rity action for people usually in a very difficult situa­tion in their own collec­tive bargaining.

Another legal form of a strike is a political strike. It is not against one’s own collec­tive agree­ment but, for instance, a demon­stra­tion against some planned legis­la­tion to under­mine the position of wage and salary earners.

Strange Govern­ment plans afoot

As one of their most urgent tasks, the govern­ment plans to curb the right to strike this autumn. One plan is to limit the right to conduct political strikes. Accor­ding to the Govern­ment Programme, this right shall be limited to one day.

The same urgency concerns union solida­rity actions. These should be ”propor­tio­nate in relation to the objec­tives” and ”only affect the parties to the labour dispute”. This would mean goodbye to solida­rity actions for weaker unions in need.

A strange and perhaps not even legal plan is to make union members pay a 200 euro fine should they continue a strike which the Labour Court has found to be unlawful. The purpose of this is obviously to scare people away from joining strikes in general. However, the fine would only cover those extre­mely rare cases when illegal strikes continue after a court decision.

These govern­ment ideas are not yet laws. But one thing is certain, unions will defend their members’ right to strike.