Goods transport, postal services to disrupt as AKT goes on strike

Finnish Transport Workers’ Union (Auto- ja Kuljetusalan Työntekijäliitto- AKT) has started a tougher strike on Wednesday resulting disruption at stevedoring at ports and three collective agreement sectors in road transport: trucking, tanker and oil products, and terminals.

The AKT started the strike as its demand for resolving collective agreement disputes were not fulfilled, said the AKT in a press release late Tuesday night.

The strike in the heavy goods vehicle industry, the tanker and oil product industry started at 00.00 a.m. on Wednesday and will continue until February 21 at 00.00 a.m.

The strike in the stevedoring industry is scheduled to start from 6.00 a.m. on Wednesday and go on until further notice.

Strike in terminal operations is scheduled to start on Wednesday morning at 6.00 a.m. until 22 February 6.00 a.m.

Regarding the heavy goods vehicle industry (trucks), the strike will be extended to Heli Oulu Oy and Heli Rovaniemi Oy on Thursday, 16 February 2023 at 00.00 p.m. until Tuesday, 21 February 2023 at 00.00 p.m.

The strike concerning terminal operations will be extended to Lehtonen logistiikka Oy on Thursday, 16 February 2023 at 6.00 a.m. until Wednesday, 22 February 2023 at 6.00 a.m.

Meanwhile, national postal and logistic services operator Posti in a press release on Tuesday said that at least Posti’s transport and terminal operations as well as domestic and international deliveries will be hampered due to the strike.

In addition, The Finnish Post and Logistics Union PAU has announced support measures that aim to quicken AKT’s collective agreement negotiations in the trucking sector.

PAU’s industrial action measures affect many of Posti’s transport functions from February 16 at 00:00 to February 21 at 24:00.

In locations that are subject to the strike, trucks and trailers will not be unloaded or loaded. Work that is related safety or health is excluded from the strike.

“We apologize for the inconvenience this situation causes to our clients and for the delays caused by the strike. We are not a negotiating party in the collective agreement negotiations, but they impact us as a big logistics player. We hope that an agreement will be reached, and the strikes end quickly. We ask for understanding from our customers, since returning to our normal operations after the strikes will take some time,” said Jarmo Ainasoja, Head of Exception Management at Posti.

Posti currently estimated that the delivery of parcels, letters, and magazines as well as international deliveries to and from Finland will be delayed between a few days to over a week.

The same estimate applies to freight deliveries.