RAU´s strike to suspend rail communication on Feb 12-13

Rail communication will remain suspended across the country as the Railway Union Association (Rautatiealan Unioni Ry-RAU) announced to go for a strike on February 12-13, said RAU, VR and HSL in separate press releases on Thursday.

The RAU at a meeting on Wednesday decided to observe the strike protesting against the labour market reforms and cuts in working condition undertaken by the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) led four-party alliance government.

RAU together with other trade unions is also demanding stop of the government´s initiatives immediately.

National Railway Operator -VR said that the strike scheduled to start at 00:01 on Monday and will continue until 23:59 resulting suspension of train services on the day. The strike may also disrupt the schedule of train services on the following day.

Passengers can change their long-distance one-way ticket to another date without paying a change fee of €5. VR will automatically refund the price of long-distance and local single tickets purchased during the strike to its passengers within about a week.

VR will also refund seat reservations for serial tickets to passengers and extend the validity of season tickets and serial tickets for long-distance and short-distance services by the day of the strike.

The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (Helsingin seudun liikenne- HSL) in a press release said that commuter trains will be not operated in the capital region on Monday due to the strike. There may be changes in traffic also on Tuesday.

The strike will affect all work shifts starting between midnight and 11.59pm. The strike will also affect train services on Tuesday.

The Finnish Railway Union has also announced a strike by traffic controllers. The strike will affect work shifts starting on Monday at 6:59pm and ending on Tuesday at 6.59pm.

Earlier, the Industrial Union (Teollisuusliitto) on February 2, announced a large-scale political strikes targeting several industrial sectors from February 14 to February 16 protesting against the cuts in employee rights and social welfare undertaken by the government.

Rail, road and air traffics remained suspended and normal activities in various service sectors including daycares, factories and groceries were hampered as different trade unions observed a 48-hour strike across the country from February 1.