Major amalgamation of Finnish Private Sector Unions by 2001

Four service industry unions in the private sector plan to amalgamate, thus forming a major union with a 200,000 membership. An agreement of intent was signed by the unions concerned in early December, following the approval of the venture by the respective executive bodies. Amalgamation is scheduled to be completed in the year 2001.

Once established, this new major union will be the second largest union, affiliated to SAK, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. At the moment KTV, the Trade Union for the Municipal Sector, is the biggest affiliated union with, based on the 1996 statistics, a membership of some 232,000.

Those unions planning to amalgamate are the Union of Commercial Employees (132,000 members in 1996), the Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union (50,000 members), the Technical and Special Trades’ Union (10,000 members) and the Caretakers’ Union (14,000 members). The new amalgamated union will compete, for the rank of the largest membership union affiliated to SAK, with the Trade Union for the Municipal Sector. Women form the majority of members in both unions. The largest industrial workers’ union in Finland and affiliated to SAK is the Metalworkers’ Union with its membership of 160,000.

The basic reasons for this amalgamation are identical for all the unions involved agree Heimo Määränen, the Chairman of the Technical and Special Trades’ Union, and Jorma Kallio, the Chairman of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union. They emphasise that new technologies have changed the very nature of work. As a result of this there has been a change to the labour market and therefore the relevant organisations must adjust.

Negotiations are increasingly conducted at a local level and therefore the Unions must be able to stand behind and support local workers and local union activists, say the Chairmen.

Heimo Määränen, the Chairman of the Technical and Special Trades’ Union, is also concerned over the increasing decline in the number of trade union activists. More than 90 per cent of the Union members take only a passive role. For a small union it is extremely difficult to reach out to this group. The Technical and Special Trades’ Union will derive concrete benefits from the proposed amalgamation, as at present the Union has no regional organisation, but will enjoy the benefits of a regional network following the amalgamation, says Chairman Määränen.

Jorma Kallio, the Chairman of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union is naturally well aware of the trends in his own industry. Clear boundaries which previously existed between the different crafts and trades have largely vanished. For example, there are at present restaurants within shops and conversely, shops within restaurants and within hotels. There are huge shopping centres along the motorways in which a multitude of various services are available under the same roof. All four unions, which now plan to amalgamate and form this larger union, have collective agreements which have been separately negotiated for the workers in these environments.

The character of our union membership has also changed. Nowadays it is not unusual for some of our members to simultaneously hold several jobs in a variety of different fields, says Chairman Kallio. All these things, along with the increasing need to represent the workers’ interests at an international level, has made it necessary for us to review the structure of our organisation.

Temporary bodies for the transition period

At the moment the four unions which plan to amalgamate have agreed upon a period of transition. They have established a joint body, the Service Sector Trades Union Council, which will carry out the necessary preparations for the new union and which will co-ordinate union co-operation.

Each union is represented at the Council meetings. The Council has its own Chairman and has an elected Administrative Committee.

The Council was mainly established to guide the formation of the new large union and to support the amalgamating unions in their negotiating activities. It has been planned that collective agreements for the various industries, represented at present by the four unions, will still continue to be negotiated on an industry basis by the respective former unions after the amalgamation. The role of the new amalgamated union will be that of major co-ordination, and support, of union activities.