“When the employees are organised, their chances of influencing their working conditions improve significantly,” says Aki Rouhiainen, organisational affairs specialist, about the goals and significance of organising.

Organising simply means that people organise and work together to make a difference.

“Organising is proactive, employee-led collective action which seeks to address the recognised concerns at the workplace to solve shared goals,” he explains.

According to Rouhiainen, the biggest challenge is to generate well-functioning member teams to support shop stewards at the workplace.
“This is particularly challenging when a company has dozens of locations, with all employee affairs resting on the shoulders of one chief shop steward and one occupational safety delegate.”

The member team consists of employees who can lead and involve their colleagues in a systematic manner together with the shop steward and occupational safety delegate.

“When the organising process is carefully planned and carried out and the member team is committed, it enables the employees at the workplace to work extremely efficiently to solve shared issues,” states Rouhiainen.

According to Rouhiainen, the best membership benefit is an active and organised workplace where employees can be heard as well as participate in the everyday protection of their interests and handling of various issues.

“Experience in organising workplaces indicate that very simple things can make a difference at the workplace. The main thing is that we can be proactive and cooperate.”