UPDATED: Transport workers’ strike to begin on Tuesday evening

AKT representatives reject National Conciliator's mediation proposal

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On Sunday evening, National Conciliator Esa Lonka issued a proposal for settlement in the collective bargaining talks involving the transport sector. Lonka stated that both sides will have until 5.00 pm on Monday to accept or reject the deal (SEE BELOW FOR UPDATED INFORMATION).
     
If either one of the parties rejects the mediation proposal, a strike will begin on Tuesday at 6.00 pm.
      ”The conflict has come to a stage in which we are forced at least to try to reach a settlement”, said Lonka after having given his proposal.
      Lonka admitted that the pressures are great as the Transport Workers' Union (AKT) has threatened to bring to a halt a major part of Finland’s road transport as well as local and regional bus services.
      The possible AKT strike would also affect the personnel at the largest cargo terminals, while the doors to Matkahuolto’s Customer Service outlets would also be closed.
     
AKT has been tight-lipped about its demands. According to the Employers’ Federation of Road Transport (ALT), AKT is after a severance pay that is equal to six months’ salary for those employees who are made redundant. In addition, they request a two-year contract that would increase the employers’ payroll costs by 6 per cent.
      ALT has said that the pay claim is unreasonably high.
      It is customary to keep the contents of the settlement proposal secret until the other side has submitted its reply.
     
If the industrial action is launched on Tuesday, all major transport companies will be involved, and commuting will be disrupted across the entire country.
      Only municipal bus services would continue to operate during the planned strike.
      In the Greater Helsinki area, half of the commuters use buses. The strike would halt two-thirds of them, in other words all bus services run by private operators.
      Further problems will appear if refuse collection services are halted.
      However, stores are not expected to run out of merchandise as those deliveries are taken care of by small-scale entrepreneurs who are not affected by the strike action.
     
Nevertheless, further trouble would also be caused by the stoppage in fuel transport.
      If the strike lasts for a long time, a shortage of heating oil could emerge.
      Moreover, the industrial action could also hamper the supply of aircraft fuel.
      The planned road transport strike action would involve approximately 40 businesses related to freight transport, tank transport, as well as bus and coach operators.
     
     
UPDATED MONDAY 18:30: AKT rejects proposal - transport strike begins from 18:00 on Tuesday
     
      The Board of the Transport Workers' Union (AKT) has rejected the proposal for a settlement put forward by National Conciliator Esa Lonka.
      This means the threatened strike by transport workers will begin from 18:00 on Tuesday March 2nd.
      The industrial action is likely to bring a halt to two-thirds of the country's bus traffic.
      As far as commuters are concerned, the situation will vary considerably depending on the cities concerned. For example in Helsinki and Tampere, bus companies owned by the municipality will not be affected by the stoppage, but will be running a normal service.
      In Helsinki, the Metro, trams, commuter trains and the Suomenlinna ferry will operate normally during the strike.
     
However, in many towns and cities the local bus traffic is completely in the hands of private firms, which will mean in practice that services will stop altogether.
      It would appear that in the Greater Helsinki region of Espoo, Vantaa and other satellite towns, less than half of the normal bus services will be in operation.
      The same goes for long-distance express coaches - only a few services will be running, driven by non-union staff.
      Operators urge passengers to consult the relevant websites for details, and to consider car-pooling for the duration of the strike, as it will be quite impossible to carry the normal volume of passengers with the limited capacity available.
     
Rail services from VR will not be able to provide any material assistance, as even with additional carriages on some trains, many areas will not have access to the rail network, and in any case feeder bus services getting people to commuter stations will not be operating.
      Air traffic will also be affected in its own way, as the strike extends to include ATK members who drive tankers carrying jet fuel, although airlines have downplayed the likelihood of cancellations.
     
One additional problem caused by the industrial action will be that refuse collections in the Greater Helsinki area will be paralysed almost immediately. The garbage trucks are owned by large companies that are subject to the strike, and it has been estimated that up to 80% of them will be off the road for the duration of the stoppage.
      Although deliveries to stores will also be affected in some cases, it is not thought likely that shortages of food on supermarket shelves will occur in the next few days, even though some fresh produce may be in short supply.
     
We will have more on the implications of this story in tomorrow's edition.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Bus and lorry strike postponed past winter holidays of Southern Finland (19.2.2010)
  Possible bus strike threatens winter holiday chaos (18.2.2010)
  Threatened transport strike could have serious knock-on effects (15.2.2010)

Links:
  Matkahuolto
  Transport Workers´ Union (AKT)
  Employers´ Federation of Road Transport (ALT)
  Helsinki Region Transport - Services during strike

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