Frontier Guard strike: No Finnish passport control for travellers going into Russia
Focus on arrivals
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A strike by personnel of the Finnish Frontier Guard began at 6:00 AM on Tuesday. At the Vaalimaa crossing on the with Russia, personnel walking off the job were replaced by managerial staff, who focused on arriving travellers. There were no inspections for those crossing into Russia.
The Frontier Guard has declared the inspection of passports of those arriving in Finland to be emergency work, ordering staff not belonging to the Border Guards’ Union to take over. The Federation of Salaried Employees Pardia, which mainly represents employees working in governmental offices and institutions, and Juko, which represents academically trained employees in the public sector, asked the Finnish Labour Court to rule on whether or not the order was lawful.
The organisations say that the order by the Frontier Guard General Staff forces personnel not affected by the strike to do struck work against their will.
There was a relaxed feeling among Finns crossing into Russia, who did not have to undergo any inspections on the Finnish side.
The feeling was not shared by the strikers, many of whom denounced the decision to place a higher priority on the unimpeded flow, than on proper supervision.
Border Guards’ Union chairman Reijo Kortelainen expressed concern that the easing of controls could attract shady people into Finland.
"The English language press in St. Petersburg has already reported that soon it will be easy to cross the border into the Schengen zone."
Passport inspections for those leaving Finland were also given up at the other key border crossing - Nuijamaa. "Not a single passport has been stamped on the departure side", said pickets Timo Hanninen and Risto Ruokonen.
The task of the pickets was to inspect the names of those coming to work, and to make sure that staff of Finnish Customs do not take on the tasks of Frontier Guard personnel.
Traffic at Nuijamaa was calm, and no backlogs occurred. Cross-border traffic is expected to increase as the weekend approaches.
Inspections in both directions have continued at other border crossings.
The striking union has questioned the competence of those taking care of passport inspections now. Lieutenant-Colonel Pasi Tolvanen, commander of the Southeast Finland Frontier Guard District, admits that the temporary passport inspectors have little experience.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 1.6.2005 - TODAY |
 Frontier Guard strike: No Finnish passport control for travellers going into Russia
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