AKT strike to disrupt flight operations, delay Kela´s benefits handling

The ongoing strike enforced by Finnish Transport Workers’ Union (Auto- ja Kuljetusalan Työntekijäliitto- AKT) from early Wednesday may affect flight operations until February 21, said country´s airports operator Finavia in a press release on Wednesday.

Based on current information, ATK’s strike will mainly impact the distribution of aviation fuel and aircraft refuelling operations.

Finavia urged the passengers to follow the information provided by their own airline or tour operator and be prepared for the fact that the strike may affect, for example, their flight schedules.

Meanwhile, the national social insurance institution- Kela on Wednesday said that the transport workers’ strike may cause delays with benefit applications and urged the people to e-services for making applications.

Due to a transport workers’ strike, applications and supporting documents mailed to Kela may take longer to arrive, said Kela in a press release.

Kela is prepared to be flexible with deadlines for supporting documents that are delayed by the strike.

The Finnish Post and Logistics Union- PAU extended its support to the strike resulting possible delays in mail deliveries.

According to Posti, the strike could delay letter deliveries by several days to more than a week.

For Kela's customers, this means that they will have to wait longer to receive a decision on any application or supporting documents sent by post.

“Most customers of Kela already use OmaKela. Switching to e-services is now a particularly good idea”, said Soili Orre, head of Customer Relations of Kela.

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.