Finns Party’s march into trade unions is postponed

In the upcoming trade union elections, the Finns Party will have only eight candidates out of 2,400

Matti Putkonen

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The plan hatched by the Finns Party (formerly the True Finns) to take over the Finnish trade union movement remains just a dream - at least for the time being.
      The party managed to round up only a total of eight candidates for the elections of two major trade unions belonging to the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), while the total number of candidates was about 2,400.
     
The Metalworkers’ Union’s highest decision-making organ, the Congress, convenes every fourth year, and its 464 delegates are elected by ballot.
      The next Congress will take place at the end of May 2012, and the election of the delegates will be arranged in March. The Finns Party managed to get only 6 candidates out of 1,300 to run as a delegate.
     
In the elections of the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL) - also in March - the Finns Party will have two candidates out of 1,100, while the Green League, which is also a newcomer in the JHL elections, will have five candidates.
      ”In the current year, the Finns Party’s most important elections will be local elections. We will return to the trade union movement after the municipal elections next autumn”, says Matti Putkonen, the party’s labour representative, who himself retired from the Metalworkers’ Union. Putkonen is a former member of the Social Democrats, having resigned from the party in 2010 after 42 years' membership.
      Last September, Putkonen charted the then True Finns members in trade unions in the party’s newspaper and on its web pages. The party’s silent goal was to have ten candidates in the Finnish Metalworkers’ Union’s Congress elections, Putkonen reports.
      Putkonen notes further that the Finns Party never actually announced that they would occupy the Finnish trade union movement, but ”the one that made a fuss about the matter was mainly the Social Democratic press”.
     
According to Putkonen, the Finns Party aims to start exerting influence in the trade union movement little by little, first by contributing to the activities of local unions.
      Putkonen calls for certain reforms in the elections of the Metalworkers’ Union.
      However, Riku Aalto, President of the Finnish Metalworkers’ Union, says that Putkonen has received all election documents he has asked for.
      ”In addition, he has been given personal assistance on how to fill out the documents. The election rules are the same for all, and for example the Centre Party managed to gain ten candidates”, Aalto concludes.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  True Finns looking for candidates to run for positions within labour unions (20.9.2011)

See also:
  True Finns leaders drop “True” from party´s English-language name (22.8.2011)

Links:
  Finnish Metalworkers´ Union
  Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL)
  Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK)

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