Finnish rail transport threatened by 24-hour strike

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Two labour unions operating in rail transport are planning industrial action that could stop all Finnish train traffic.
      Helsingin Sanomat has learned that the Railway Workers Union and the Railway Salaried Staff's Union, are considering a 24-hour stoppage that would begin on Sunday night.
     
Railway Workers Union chairman Vesa Mauriala would not specify on Wednesday the details, or the likelihood of a possible stoppage.
      “All options are being discussed. No actual decisions on the matter have been made yet”, Mauriala said. He added that the unions are to decide on the matter today, Thursday.
     
If members of the unions were to decide to walk off their jobs, train traffic would come to a complete standstill in Finland.
      The Railway Workers Union has about 14,000 members, including the conductors working for the state-owned rail operator VR. The Railway Salaried Staff’s Union has about 1,500 white-collar employees, including traffic controllers.
      The Finnish Locomotivemen's Union, which represents Finnish train drivers, is not involved in the planned stoppage.
     
The unions are critical of state policies as a railway owner, which they say has become more severe toward personnel. At a meeting of its delegate council two weeks ago, the Railway Workers’ Union warned that it is ready to take “strong organisational measures”.
      Mauriala says that in the present model, transport policy takes a back seat when state corporate ownership is handled by Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies (Nat. Coalition Party).
      “The thinking that the main task of VR is to transport people and goods safely has been excessively supplanted by market-dominated thinking”, Mauriala says.
     
Another issue raising protests involves spending cuts announced by VR in May. The company plans temporary redundancies for more than 1,400 office workers at its cargo unit, VR Cargo.
      “VR has been making some of the best profits in its history in recent years”, Mauriala says.


Links:
  Finnish railways VR

Helsingin Sanomat