Work stoppages

In Finland, there is a right to political expression

Everyone has the right to participate in political expression, it is not an illegal strike. Collective agreements often agree on a four-day notice period for political expression. All trade unions take care of this and members can be confident that the notices have been given on time. The trade unions have limited work that is essential for life, health, and environmental protection to the exclusion of expressions of opinion.

Trade associations and their members thus have the opportunity to express their opinions on social issues. Therefore, you cannot incur any sanctions for participating in political demonstrations.

Illegal strikes and support strikes are completely different

An illegal strike means that the trade union or its members try to influence the valid collective agreement by striking. Political expression is never directed at valid collective agreements.

A support strike is when a trade union organizes industrial action to support another union in collective bargaining, and this support strike does not affect the working conditions of the employees covered by the support strike, even indirectly.

If you have any questions about the situation, contact your shop steward or call Employment counselling.

A strike organized by a trade union or its member association is always legal for the person on strike, that is, you do not do anything illegal by participating in a strike organized by the union.  Possible sanctions for illegal industrial action are always directed at the trade union or its member association.

It has been agreed in collective agreements that industrial action against the relevant agreement is prohibited during the validity of the agreement. If the agreement is violated, a fine may be imposed, for which the organizer of the industrial action is responsible.

When the collective agreement for government employees is not valid, we are so-called in a non-contract state. In this case, the organizer of the strike must give written advance notice two weeks before the start of the strike. The notification is given to both the national conciliator and the counter-negotiator of the agreement (employers' union). If the notification period is not observed, the organizer of the industrial action may be sentenced to a fine.

The situations described above only apply to labor disputes related to the collective agreement. In addition to these, it is possible to legally organize, for example, sympathy strikes, political industrial action and overtime bans. These do not include a notice period or it could have been separately agreed to, for example, 4 days long. However, within the framework of the law, they are not possible for civil servants, for whom the only legal industrial action is a strike.

During the strike, follow the information on the union's website. New strike information is updated on the website and the news is continuous in negotiation situations. The strike committee announces strike events and the strike office, where you can come to discuss and ask questions about strike-related issues. We will return to work after the temporary strike ends. When the strike ends with a negotiation result, a return-to-work agreement is made. Typically, it takes 1-3 days to return to work after a strike. During this period, the employer does not pay the salary. 

If you lose earnings due to a work stoppage, we will pay you a strike allowance. The condition is that you have a valid Pro membership at the time of filing the notice of industrial action. Tax is automatically deducted from the strike allowance. 

During the strike, the employee is not paid unemployment allowance. If your employment ends during the strike and you become unemployed, you must register with the employment office as a job seeker in accordance with the normal procedure. The right of an unemployed employee unemployment allowance is normally determined according to the relevant rules. 

The person participating in the strike cannot receive personal sanctions from the industrial action organized by the union or association. The employer may not pressure employees if they participate in industrial action organized by the union. If you experience pressure, report it to the union immediately. 

The employer does not have the right to terminate or cancel the employment contract due to participation in industrial action, if the industrial action is carried out by a union or local association. The form of the industrial action is irrelevant. The employment security of shop stewards, department shop stewards and occupational health and safety representatives is determined by the provisions of the collective agreement or the law, even during a strike.

A strike does not change the employer's right to terminate the employment even during industrial action, e.g., on production and financial grounds. However, the grounds for dismissal or the targeting of the dismissal must not be discriminatory, for example unjustifiably targeting only employees belonging to the union. You have the right to terminate an indefinite employment contract at any time, including during a strike.

The employer may not act in a discriminatory or unequal manner in selecting the persons whose employment it is considering terminating. Termination of the employment relationship in the context of collective labor disputes is extremely rare. In such a case, it should be taken immediately contact the union.

We do not accept this kind of behavior, inform your supervisor immediately. If your workplace does not have a shop steward, contact the Collective Agreement Specialist in your area.

The threats are unfounded and lists of names must not be collected. No one is penalized for participating in legal industrial action because the employee has a legal right to participate in the strike.

Remote work is also subject to a strike, so you don't do that during the work stoppage either.

No need. Trade Union Pro has submitted the necessary notifications to the national conciliator and the employers' association.

All experts, supervisors, and salaried workers at the workplace affected by the work stoppage will go on strike, regardless of whether they are members of Pro, another organization, or unorganized.

Yes, it is.

It is about industrial action decided by the trade union. Salaried employees who participated in a work stoppage declared by the trade union cannot be denied a performance bonus because of their participation in the work stoppage. 

If the situation that led to the industrial action is resolved before the strike starts and the strike is cancelled, the matter will be announced immediately both on Pro's website and in a letter to members.

What matters is when the shift starts. Work stoppages include work shifts that start at a separately defined time.

• If your shift starts before the start time of the work stoppage, you will work the shift as normal. The shift is made even if it continues beyond the start time of the stoppage.
• If your shift starts within the hours defined for the stoppage, you will not go to work.
• If your shift starts after the hours specified for the work stoppage, you will work the shift as normal.

When the strike ends, work will normally be returned at the start of the next shift.

If the strike ends before the announced time, work will be returned at the start of the next shift or as soon as possible after that (e.g., if the shift starts almost immediately after the end of the strike, it may be impossible to make it to this shift).

The employer does not have the right to terminate or cancel the employment contract due to participation in industrial action, if the industrial action is carried out by a union or local association. The form of the industrial action is irrelevant. The employment security of shop stewards, department shop stewards and occupational health and safety representatives is determined by the provisions of the collective agreement or the law, even during a strike.

A strike does not change the employer's right to terminate the employment even during industrial action, e.g., on production and financial grounds. However, the grounds for dismissal or the targeting of the dismissal must not be discriminatory, for example unjustifiably targeting only employees belonging to the union. You have the right to terminate an indefinite employment contract at any time, including during a strike.

The employer may not act in a discriminatory or unequal manner in selecting the persons whose employment it is considering terminating. Termination of the employment relationship in the context of collective labor disputes is extremely rare. In such a case, you should contact the union immediately.

During the trial period, either party can terminate the employment contract without any particular reason. However, termination of the probationary period may not be done on grounds that are discriminatory or otherwise irrelevant to the purpose of the probationary period. This also applies during a strike. Even during a strike, the employer may not terminate the employment relationship, for example, due to trade union activities.

Absence from work is based on the reason that starts first. If the strike starts before your vacation, you are on strike. If the strike starts after the start of annual leave, you are on annual leave. If the holiday and the strike start on the same day, you are on holiday because the holiday starts when the day changes, but the strike doesn't start until 6:00. New vacations will not be arranged for the duration of the strike after the strike notice has been submitted.

If the strike starts on Monday and your holiday starts on Tuesday, the holiday will be postponed, because the strike started first. If the vacation or other absence from work ends during the strike, you will remain on strike after the absence ends. If a settlement is reached during the strike and the strike ends in the middle of the agreed holiday, the holiday will automatically continue from when the strike ends.

If you got sick before the strike started, you are on sick leave (paid time) and after it ends you will join the strike. When sick leave starts during a strike, you are on sick leave (unpaid time).

If the temporary lay-off is marked as starting on the same day as the strike, the temporary lay-off takes effect at the end of the day and the strike starts at 6:00 a.m., so you are laid off if the layoff notice is given before the notice of industrial action is given.

1. If the illness begins before the strike and ends after the end of the strike, wages are paid for the entire period of illness, if the employer is otherwise obligated to pay wages for the entire period of illness.
2. If the illness begins before the strike and ends during the strike, the salary is also paid for the days of sick leave that overlap with the strike. If a salaried employee in such a situation, despite his sick leave, registers as a striker and actively works in connection with the strike, e.g. as a picket guard, the situation may arise that he is considered to be on strike and the salary for the sick leave period is not paid for the duration of the strike. After the sick leave ends, the salaried employee is on strike.
3. If the illness starts during a strike, the salaried employee is on strike. Sick pay is not paid for sick days that fall during the strike. On the other hand, the time for which the employer is obliged to pay sick pay does not pass during the strike. The calculation of the period starts only after the end of the strike, i.e., from the moment when the salaried employee receives sick pay.
    

The employer has no obligation to pay wages during a strike. Instead, if an already earned wage receivable falls due during the strike, it must be paid normally.

The members of Trade Union Pro do not have any obligation based on the employment contract to do anything other than the work of salaried workers referred to in their own employment contract during a strike by employees or other groups of wage earners.

This means that the salaried workers will carry out normal daily tasks during the strikes in question.

The shop steward must ensure that the members of Pro follow and act in accordance with the guidelines and principles that have been jointly agreed between the wage earners' central organizations and do not engage in strike-related work. You should contact the union's central office or regional office in this matter.

If a member of Pro works in another organization's strike positions, they must join the strike of that organization and they will be paid the same amount of strike allowance as the members of the organization on strike. Pro pays a strike allowance to its member who is on strike.

If there are problems with joining the strike, you should always contact either Pro's employment counselling or your own regional office.