Pro * 15.04.2011 (translated Juhani Artto)

Salaried employees at the teleoperator, TeliaSonera Finland (TSF) will begin their second strike in April in response to the company's plan to cut up to 300 jobs. An open-ended overtime ban, covering the entire TSF, has been effective as of Thursday morning.

The strike begins on April 18 at 6 a.m. and will last for four days. Salaried employees at all 16 TSF units around the country will be out on strike. So, Helsinki, Imatra, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kouvola, Kuopio, Kuusamo, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Loimaa, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Tampere, Turku, Vaajakoski and Vaasa will all see industrial action in the coming week.

And, additionally, over 250 salaried employees of TSF's subcontractors and companies providing TSF with agency labour will join the strike. These companies are GoExcellent, Manpower Business Solutions, Staffpoint and Teleperformance.

Riku Vesapuisto, the deputy shop steward of TSF's salaried employees, considers the plan to cut up to 300 jobs as excessive. The employer is in breach of the legislation in its efforts to force salaried employees to reapply for their jobs in connection with tasks being transferred from one location to another, Vesapuisto says.

According to the trade union Pro, TSF has rebuffed a proposal to offer its salaried employees in Finland, who may lose their jobs, similar measures to meet the change as the company offers in Sweden. This proposal has been made during the mandatory joint consultation. The company's attitude threatens to leave employees who stand to lose their jobs in Finland worse off than those who lose their jobs in Sweden.

The strike will not affect vote counting

Consumers will clearly feel the effect of the strike as no new connections will be opened to customers and faults will not be repaired. Callers announcing connection faults will not get a reply.

However, the strike will not influence the functioning of the emergency number 112. Also the connections used in the vote counting of the April 17 Parliamentary elections will not be affected.

The employer association reprimands TSF

The earlier strike initiated by the TSF salaried employees was organized in early April. At that time the service sector employer association Palta reprimanded TSF for giving notice to those participating in a strike organized by a trade union. According to the Employment Contracts Act, a company does not have such a
right.

Else-Mai Kirvesniemi, the head of Pro's legal unit, is at pains to point out that any possible consequences of a strike can only be targeted on the union, not on individual employees. And again, the strike, due to begin on April 18 has been approved and organized by the trade union Pro.