Govt rigid to restrict right to strike despite ILO intervention: SAK

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) accused the four-party alliance government led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of showing complete disregard for the country’s international commitments and how they are supervised.

This indifference on the part of the government now extends to concerns expressed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), said SAK on Friday.

In pursuit of certain questionable ambitions that employer organizations have advocated for decades, the government is seeking to confine the right to strike within extremely narrow margins, while ignoring criticism from employee organizations and a wide array of legal specialists alike.

This means new legislation limiting the duration of political strikes to one day only, curtailing sympathetic strike action, and sharply increasing fines for unlawful strikes, said SAK in a release, adding that an individual penalty of EUR 200 would also be levied on any employee who continued industrial action that a court had declared unlawful.

The ILO in a letter sent to Minister of Labour Arto Satonen in mid-April urged the government to negotiate with the social partners on any curtailment of the right to strike, said the release, adding that the minister nevertheless insisted that all of the required discussions and consultations have already taken place, and the Employment and Equality Committee of Parliament expressed no view on the concerns of the ILO when considering the draft legislative proposal.

“Despite the ILO intervention, the governing party majority on the committee forced through a legislative package affecting the right to strike for approval by a plenary session of Parliament, even though this right is a fundamental human right of employees,” SAK Senior Legal Advisor Paula Ilveskivi said.

While the Constitutional Law Committee of Parliament ultimately approved the proposal, this outcome was far from unanimous. The governing party members forming a majority on the Committee simply ignored the advisory opinions of consulted specialists in constitutional and human rights law.

“This unprecedented approach shows a clear politicisation of the Constitutional Law Committee, damaging its legitimacy as a body charged with ensuring that legislative proposals are constitutional, and that they comply with human rights treaties,” Ilveskivi added.

The ILO intervention addressed to the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment responds to a request submitted to the Director-General of the ILO by the International Trade Union Confederation ITUC.

This request reflected efforts by the Finnish Government to amend legislation on the right to strike.

“The ITUC does not submit intervention requests to the ILO Director-General lightly, nor does the ILO entertain unfounded requests,” Ilveskivi said.

The indifference of the Finnish Government is evident insofar as Minister of Labour Satonen seems to be ignoring the ILO intervention, with the parliamentary passage of new strike legislation continued and even accelerated.

“Egged on by the employers, the Government and governing parties seem to be riding roughshod over employees and the opposition parties. This approach is obliterating the idea of consensus policymaking in Finland,” the Advisor said.

She notes that only complete arrogance or incomprehension can account for the attitude of the Orpo Government and its Minister of Labour towards the ILO intervention, which is motivated by the general duty of the ILO to assist Member States in complying with their treaty obligations.

“The Orpo Government is now dragging Finland into the group of countries that have to be held accountable internationally for their human rights violations. This will hardly enhance the reputation of Finland as an attractive target for the foreign investment and talent that its government needs,” Ilveskivi added.

The proposal to amend legislation governing the right to strike is currently under consideration at a plenary session of Parliament.

“We can only hope that MPs will find the wisdom and courage to reassess this issue and reject the proposal, as the opposition Social Democrats, Left Alliance and Greens recommend in their objection to the report of the Employment and Equality Committee,” Ilveskivi said.

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and its affiliated unions on April 4 decided to suspend their ongoing strikes.