Public sector workers warn of 3rd phase strike on May 8-9

The Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, Trade Union Pro and the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals JUKO on Tuesday issued the third strike warning for selected state sector workplaces, said the unions in a press release.

The new strike was announced when unions are observing a three-day strike at selected state sector workplaces demanding pay hike.

The third phase strike will begin on 8 May at 12.01 a.m. and end on 9 May at 11.59 p.m. unless the demands of the unions are not fulfilled by this time.

The strike will be observed at specific workplaces of the Emergency Response Centre Agency, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Police administration, Prison and Probation Service of Finland, the Finnish Food Authority, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo), Customs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Finnish Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR (Palkeet), Government ICT Centre Valtori and cities of Helsinki and Rovaniemi.

Work tasks that must be performed in order to protect people’s life or health or to prevent significant danger to property are excluded from the strike.

The leaders of the unions on Tuesday also expressed disappointment over the attitude of the government as employer.

They said the government still does not want to grant the state sector employees pay rises that match the general level.

“We are unfortunately forced to continue and expand the strikes. The employer is still not willing to accept pay rises that match the general level, which the state sector employees undeniably deserve. This shows incredibly poor appreciation of the employees,” the organisations said in the press release.

More than 5,500 state sector public servants and employees under contract are going to go on strike. The state sector collective agreement (collective agreement for government) covers 76,000 public servants and employees under contract.

Earlier, a two-day strike was observed at selected state sector workplaces on April 15 and 16.