Restrictions on the right to strike

The Government speaks of changes to improve industrial peace. These turn out to be a package of measures seeking to restrict both the willingness to, and the channels available for influencing and expressing a view.

Restricting the right to strike has been a long-term goal of employers. While the trade union movement attended the working group that prepared this proposal, its ability to influence the content has been purely hypothetical.

Restriction of political strikes

From the Government Programme

In accordance with the Nordic practice, the exercise of the right to political industrial action will be limited to protests lasting no longer than one day.

Current practice

Finland has seen few political strikes in the new millennium, but this did not discourage the Government from singling them out.

The international commitments of Finland include recognition of a right to strike on political grounds, for example under principles adopted by the International Labour Organisation of the United Nations (ILO). The ILO has held that trade unions must be able to call protest strikes and express their views on social issues, even where these are not directly a topic of collective bargaining. The ILO operates on a tripartite principle, meaning that employers are also committed to its agreements and principles.

Besides the agreements of the ILO, freedom of association and the associated right to engage in industrial action are enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and in the Constitution of Finland. The European Convention on Human Rights has statutory force in Finland.

The Government submitted its proposal on amendments to Parliament on 29 February. The amendments would enter into force on 1 July 2024.

Impact

  1. Restricting industrial action on political grounds deprives workers of a significant ability to influence political decisions. The pressure of industrial action that may last for only one day is minimal, meaning that the views of employees can be more readily ignored.
  2. Finland will accordingly join the ranks of countries where freedom of expression and opinion is restricted.


Sympathetic strike action to be restricted

From the Government Programme

The Government will amend legislation to make solidarity action subject to a duty to notify in accordance with an assessment of proportionality and the Act on Mediation in Labour Disputes. Lawful solidarity action will have to be proportionate to the objectives, with an impact that is confined to parties to the industrial dispute.

Current practice

Sympathy strikes enable a trade union to support the industrial action of another trade union, or they allow workers organised in other collective bargaining sectors of the same trade union to support workers in some particular sector other than their own. Unions use sympathy strikes to accelerate collective bargaining in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Sympathy strikes are lawful if they are called in support of already lawful industrial action.

The Government submitted its proposal on amendments to Parliament on 29 February. The amendments would enter into force on 1 July 2024.

Impact

  1. The Orpo-Purra Government Programme requires lawful sympathy strikes to be reasonable in relation to the objectives. This would mean in practice that some external arbiter would have to determine when a sympathy strike is lawful. Proportionality is a matter of opinion. Who would formulate such an interpretation, and on what grounds?
  2. The loss of sympathy strikes as a supporting measure will undermine the position of workers involved in the main dispute. Small trade unions have relied on the support of larger unions in successfully resisting cuts made by the employers. This has also been a significant factor in industries with low employee organising rates or otherwise disadvantaged employees.
  3. There is no statutory notification period for sympathetic strike action. Any such new provision would increase bureaucracy and slow the reaction to measures taken by an employer.


A fine of EUR 200 for individual strikers when a strike is found to be illegal

From the Government Programme

An individual penalty payment of EUR 200 imposed on employees taking part in industrial action that has previously been found unlawful, regardless of the party responsible for organising the industrial action.

Current practice

Individual employees cannot be fined, with liability instead always borne by their union.

The Government submitted its proposal on amendments to Parliament on 29 February. The amendments would enter into force on 1 July 2024.

Impact

  1. The amendment seeks a deterrent effect that will influence the willingness of individuals to take part in industrial action. Though individual compensatory fines are seldom levied in practice, they can easily intimidate employees.


A dramatic increase in union strike fines

From the Government Programme

The level of a compensatory fine for unlawful industrial action will be increased, with the maximum amount set at EUR 150,000 and the minimum amount set at EUR 10,000.

Current practice

There is no lower limit for a compensatory fine, and the upper limit is EUR 31,900.

The Government submitted its proposal on amendments to Parliament on 29 February. The amendments would enter into force on 1 July 2024.

Impact

  1. The amendment seeks to prevent industrial action in practice. A compensatory fine of EUR 150,000 will already affect the work of trade unions. The lower limit of EUR 10,000 payable by union branches for such measures as brief expressions of opinion is a wholly unreasonable fine.