Greens hope to make inroads in labour union movement

Tension on some key issues

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The Green League would like to be a party of general appeal. The party already has strong backing among young urban Finns, environmentalists, and sexual minorities. However, in the labour union movement it has been largely invisible.
      “The Social Democratic Party and the Left Alliance have taken the mangle of labour union policy on itself. It is time to challenge the competitors in this political theme as well”, states the Greens’ strategy for 2015.
      In her speech at the party’s congress in May 2009, the Greens’ new chairwoman Anni Sinnemäki spoke already as the future Minister of Employment and the Economy. Rising uemployment forced Sinnemäki to look at the world from a place where it is no longer possible to pass responsibility upward.
     
“Those who have been left unemployed must be kept in society. Those without work need sensible training. We must look and see if we can share work among several people”, Sinnemäki said.
      This was seen as a bow in the direction of the labour unions.
      She also wanted a decision on how incomes talks would be coordinated in the future. “I hope for good cooperation with Lauri Lyly, the new President of [the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions] SAK.
     
Cooperation between the Greens and organised labour has not got off to a very good start; the Minister of Employment and the Economy has not come up with any initiatives for a framework agreement based on tripartite cooperation with the government, the unions, and employers, even though both the SAK and the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK) have been calling for it.
      Nevertheless the Greens see tripartite decision making as necessary, even if it is somewhat rigid. In bipartite bargaining involving just the unions and employers, the Greens are without a voice.
      Last year an incomes agreement was reached in which the unions held tooth and nail to a linkage between income-linked benefits and basic benefits. The government put its stamp on it.
     
The Greens have indicated that defending the linkage means that the unions are forming an obstacle to improving basic security.
      Outi Alanko-Kahiluoto, the deputy chairwoman of the Green Parliamentary group says that the linkage between benefits and income is an example of a lack of solidarity that prevails within the union movement. Green MP Kirsi Ojansuu lashed out at the unions for the same reason at a meeting of the Greens delegate council on Saturday.
      “Because of the linkage it is not possible in practice to raise the basic security of the jobless unless income-linked security is raised”, Alanko-Kahiluoto says. “Is the defence of those who are better off the only mission of the labour union movement?”
     
The Greens would favour basic security for all: each Finnish adult would be paid a monthly basic security which would replace other social benefits.
      The Greens see this model as an overall reform of income supplements and taxation. The cost-neutral model would guarantee a basic income for the poorest, while retaining an incentive to work.
     
The Green League has established contacts with organisations, but there is much friction.
      The party has not managed to make much headway into the organisations of of SAK-affiliated unions, but changes are in store as working life changes on a broader scale. The Greens are already active in academic unions defending researchers who are dependent on research grants.
      The Greens and the STTK have found common ground in defending the holiday rights of those with short-term contracts.


Links:
  Green League
  Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK)
  Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK)

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