Mediation effort suspended in transport sector labour dispute: strike threatens on Sunday

Disagreements over part-time work caused talks to fail

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Finland's National Conciliator Juhani Salonius suspended talks on Tuesday evening aimed at seeking a resolution to a threatened strike in bus and lorry traffic. He said that the two sides were so far apart that the preconditions for putting forward a mediation proposal did not exist.
     
If no progress is made, a strike will begin on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
      The main sticking point concerns disagreements between the Transport Workers' Union (AKT) and the employers' organisation (ALT) over rules governing part-time work.
      Salonius did not set a time for new negotiations, but he will be in contact with the two sides separately.
     
Although the scrapping of the negotiations considerably increases the risk of a strike, Hannu Parvela, the head of the employers' organisation, noted that there are still five days to negotiate, and that the two sides have already agreed on a 20-page paper.
      Parvela also said that the employers have put forward an offer under which full-time employees would be responsible for at least 90 percent of transport work.
     
"In Finnish conditions, this is an unusual offer, and shows that we are not a part-time sector, and we do not seek to be one."
      AKT chairman Timo Räty also emphasised that there is still time to mediate, although he noted that many important questions remain unresolved.
      Issues that remain open include pay hikes and the question of the longest permissible daily working hours.
      The most difficult stumbling-block to an agreement remains the rules governing part-time work.
      AKT's Räty did not accept the employers' proposal. "It says nothing of the number of employees. The number would continue to depend on the length of employment contracts of the part-timers", he said.
      Räty says that he can accept the existence of part-time employees in the transport sector, but he wants clearer guidelines than what the employers' side is proposing.
      If it comes to a strike, the dispute could involve as many as 10,000 workers. The collective bargaining agreements that ran out at the end of January embraced around 30,000 employees.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ministry of Labour postpones threatened road transport strike (17.2.2006)
  Bus and truck drivers threaten to go on strike later this month (9.2.2006)

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