SAK Defends its Members' Interests also in Brussels |
| Finland became a member of the European Union at the
beginning of 1995. However, the central organisations of the trade union movement have
actively been monitoring Europe's integration development since 1991, when The Central
Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK, The Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees
STTK and The Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland AKAVA
established its joint office (KEY), the purpose of which was to clarify the effects of
integration from the point of view of Finnish employees. During Finland's European Union membership negotiations, the trade unions participated in the preparations of the negotiation aims and were able to present their own aims. The members of the trade union movement were in a decisive and influential position when Finnish voters decided, in October 1994, to approve in the national referendum, Finland's membership of the European Union. Following Finland's EU-Membership, the central organisations decided to transfer their joint office to Brussels. The name of the office was amended to KEY-Finland and it began its operations on the 1.2.1995. The office is situated in Brussels, in the International Trade Union House (address: Boulevard Emile Jacqmain 155, 1210 Brussels) and it operates in premises which have been rented from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ICFTU. The office director is Heikki Pohja and his assistant is Aila Seppalä. The basic task of the office is to transmit data and to create contacts between the different organs of the European Union and the Finnish central organisations, in matters concerning employees. The Finnish trade unions have clearly identified that both the EU's community law and the EU's decisions have a partial even primary priority when compared to national legislation and decision-making. The collective bargaining work of the Finnish trade unions can no longer be carried out, only in Finland, it must also reach to where the European Union makes its decisions. The trade union movement's union level collective bargain operations, can not succeed, unless the trade unions of the EU-Member States co-operate together. SAK and the other central organisations of the Finnish trade union movement, however emphasise, in this connection, the ETUC´s primary role as the defender and monitoring body of the interests and benefits of all European employees and clerical personnel. Despite the very important role of the ETUC and its industry committees, the Finnish trade unions consider that the national trade unions must also actively participate in common collective bargaining operations. There are two substantial reasons for this: firstly, the European Union is a union of member countries, in which the national interests are still significant and in which the governments of each member state is an important party in co-operation. Secondly, the monitoring of employees' interests demands more and more work from the trade union movement's common European organisations, which unfortunately however, have at least for the present time inadequate resources for this work. However, the Finnish trade unions consider that co-operation between the national trade union offices which operate in Brussels and the European trade union organisations is becoming more and more important. The national offices in Brussels are part of the European trade union movement and part of its information and contact network. In this way, it is possible to combine resources and at the same time take care of the common benefits and interests of employees both on a union level as well as at the national level. The writer Heikki Pohja is the Director in charge of the KEY-Finland office in Brussels. Heikki Pohja is a Master of Law and was previously employed as a bank manager, before moving to Brussels. Prior to this Heikki Pohja was the president of the Chemical Workers' Union. |
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