Food workers' lockout to end abruptly on Tuesday evening - employees considering return to work

Employers declare they are acting responsibly to avert shortages

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The lockout scheduled to start on Monday by the Finnish Food and Drinks Industries Federation (ETL) began as planned at 6:00 p.m., after the Finnish Food Workers’ Union (SEL) had rejected a mediation proposal put forward by National Conciliator Esa Lonka.
     
Later on Monday evening, a new development occurred, however, when the employers’ side (ETL) announced that the lockout would end already at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday - sooner than planned.
      Initially the lockout was to last until Wednesday evening in bakeries and staple food processing plants, while the stoppage at the plants processing meat and convenience foods was supposed to end no sooner than on May 1st.
     
According to ETL, the purpose of the premature end to the lockout was to secure assortments on supermarket shelves in the run-up to the traditional spring celebrations of Vappu (May Eve and May Day).
      The lockout affected hundreds of processing plants in the meat and convenience food industries, for instance. According to ETL, work at the plants will get back to normal when the shifts begin.
     
The implications of the ongoing labour dispute in the food industry are exceptional, while bickering between the two sides is escalating.
      At worst, the industrial action could lead to a real shortage of foodstuffs at markets, compared with the current narrowing of selections in grocery stores, which have just provided a foretaste of what could be coming in the future.
     
However, the industrial strife in the foodstuffs industry is set to continue. After having staged two strikes during the current labour dispute, the employees’ side (SEL) will begin a five-day stoppage from May 5th.
      Moreover, after the worker lockout had begun on Monday evening, SEL announced that it is now planning another major stoppage to begin on May 11th.
      The new strike would cover all the food industry sectors, closing all major plants, and it would continue until a new collective agreement is reached in the food processing branch.
     
The new strike warning led to the withdrawal of the lockout that was to last at least a few days. In ETL’s view, the extensive strike threats are already posing serious risks to the supply-lines of food in the country.
      ”We decided that we will have to make sure that the food chain operates at full capacity as soon as possible. In this situation, consumers, the retail sector, the food processing industry, and farmers with their domestic animals are all suffering needlessly”, commented ETL Managing Director Heikki Juutinen in a phone interview with the Finnish News Agency (STT) last night.
     
No operations vital to society and the welfare of animals, including food supply to public institutions, the processing of animal fodder, and the emergency slaughter of cattle, are affected by industrial actions.
     
As things stand, the food industry workers do not necessarily approve of the decision made by ETL to end the lockout so soon.
      The Finnish Food Workers’ Union (SEL) has announced that it will consider the matter in the course of Tuesday morning. SEL intends to find out when the employees could possibly return to work.
      SEL spokesperson Jenni Korkeaoja said in a comment to the Finnish News Agency that SEL and ETL will have to agree upon the terms of a return to work.
     
Korkeaoja pointed out that the workers had assumed that they could be absent from their workplaces at least for three days.
      ”How will we reach all employees and what will we do if someone does not show up, as the lockout ends sooner than agreed upon?” she argued.
     
According to SEL, a lockout cannot be unilaterally cancelled in this fashion, and neither are the employees obligated to return to their jobs if they have been excluded by their employers from their places of work.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Lockout looming over food production (26.4.2010)
  Three-day strike in food production begins (21.4.2010)
  Strike may close food processing plants again (20.4.2010)
  One food strike is averted; a bigger one is still pending, as is lockout from employers´ side (12.4.2010)

Links:
  Finnish Food and Drink Industries Federation, ETL
  Finnish Food Workers´Union, SEL

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