Finnish workers are bringing foreign trade to a standstill

The strikes will affect all Finnish commercial ports, rail freight traffic and also large heavy industry production facilities. They will effectively halt all of Finland’s foreign trade, as 96 per cent of foreign trade passes through its ports.

The actions are directed against the Government’s historic cuts in unemployment benefits, drastic restrictions on the right to strike (political and sympathy strike rights), reductions in workers’ rights at work and subsidies on training, and the development of company level bargaining in a highly unbalanced direction which favours non-organised employers. 

In February, the Finnish trade unions organised large-scale political strikes lasting a couple of days, involving hundreds of thousands of workers. The strikes that have started today have fewer participants, around 7,000 workers. But they are targeted at narrower economic sectors that are set to stifle foreign trade coming in and out of Finland, and they are much longer in duration.

The strikes are supported by UNI affiliates in the services sectors PAM and Pro.

More information on Finnish trade unions’ campaign:

• A catalogue of Orpo-Purra Government cuts
• Restrictions on the right to strike
• Myth busting 20 + 1 falsehoods used to justify reductions in working conditions