Berhan Ahmadi broke through barriers by becoming a Council representative four years ago

At the last congress elections Berhan ”Ben” Ahmadi was the first person in the union’s history with an immigrant background to be elected as a Council representative, even securing a clear mandate. For the last four years he has been 1st vice chairman of the union’s Council.

“The fact that I was elected to this position is important, but on the other hand it is sad that I was the first one. Someone has to break through the barriers”, Ben says.
“This does mean, however, that the trade union movement is not prejudiced and people have equal opportunities regardless of their background”.

You need willpower and enthusiasm going into an election, even though you cannot predict the outcome. At first Ben was overwhelmed by the election result, but in a positive way.

“After I was elected I felt I had broken through a barrier and that I had to get down to work right away. I figured that the Finnish trade union movement mustn’t be a strange place for people with immigrant backgrounds; it has to be a home for them, part of their working life”.

It is never easy to be the first to break the mould, and it has taken a lot of work.

”Luckily I am very approachable, and I was able to make contacts quickly. After the elections I travelled round the country to bring the union’s ideas across to members with immigrant backgrounds. I also went to meet asylum seekers who had come to Finland in 2015 to tell them about Finnish working life and equal opportunities. I was in solidarity networks talking about working life and a new type of trade union movement that is easy for immigrants to approach. As a union, I think we have succeeded in this”, Ben says, referring to PAM’s current membership, where as many as 11% of members have an immigrant background.

“One very concrete example of what PAM is doing for these members in society is to teach members working life Finnish”, he says.
After Ben stood as a candidate in the previous congress elections, the number of active PAM members with an immigrant background has increased. So it is only natural for this to be reflected among the candidates who are standing.

“Last time you didn’t see many immigrants at the congress and they weren’t elected because their networks are small. Now I firmly believe that at next summer’s congress elections we will see record numbers of ethnic minority members because over the last few years these people have found their place in the trade union movement”.

Ben finds it a shame that there are still very few shop stewards with an immigrant background.
There are still fears or suspicions among ethnic minority members about employers or somebody else finding out that an employee is involved in the union movement. Even though trade union activity is a legal right in Finland, in some other countries it can even lead to death threats.

“This explains why trade union membership is not an obvious step for people with an immigrant background. That’s why it’s important to get the message out that a trade union is like another other organisation helping its members and supporting their rights. If you think these sorts of values are important, and that workers shouldn’t be discriminated in working life and that everybody should be treated equally, then belonging to a union is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s something to be proud of, not afraid of”, he adds.