TEAM is the new number two industrial union in Finland

Industrial Union TEAM is a new Finnish trade union that began operating at the start of 2010 following a merger by two of the country8217s oldest trade unions: the Chemical Workers’ Union and the Finnish Media Union. The new union continues a tradition dating back to the dawn of trade union history in Finland with Suomen Kirjaltajaliitto, a print union founded in 1894.

Affiliated to the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions - SAK, Industrial Union TEAM is now Finland’s second-largest industrial sector trade union. Its 67,000 members work in the chemical industry, the printing industry, the rubber and leatherworking industry, the glass and ceramics industry, and the textile and garment industry, and they also serve in various occupations including newspaper distributors and laundry workers. This diversified trade union is currently a party to no fewer than 16 collective agreements negotiated in 13 bargaining sectors.

TEAM has set up a new website at www.teamliitto.fi. The new union is chaired by Timo Vallittu, the former President of the Chemical Workers’ Union.

The associated unemployment funds in the affected sectors have also merged to form a new organisation called the Industrial Sectors Unemployment Fund.

The Finnish Media Union and the Chemical Workers’ Union began merger negotiations last June following the collapse of an earlier TEAM project involving six industrial unions. Both unions were involved in this project from the outset, with a view to establishing a new trade union of more than 300,000 members. The project failed when the Finnish Metalworkers’ Union withdrew at the final stage.

The last substantial merger of SAK-affiliated industrial unions was in 2004 when the Chemical Workers’ Union joined forces with the Textile and Garment Workers’ Union - Teva.