Executive Committee of Service Union United PAM decided on further political strikes
The Executive Committee of Service Union United PAM visited Prime Minister Juha Sipilä in his residence Kesäranta on Tuesday. PAM's objective for the meeting was to influence Finland’s Government so that it would not go on with the plans to weaken employees’ protection against unilateral termination in small companies. PAM’s Executive Committee also reported about its decision, taken yesterday, to launch political strikes involving almost 50,000 employees.
According to Union president Ann Selin of PAM, the situation caused by the Government is exceptionally critical and acute.
“Improving the employment rates is in everybody’s best interest, but the proposed measures to weaken the employees’ protection against unilateral termination in companies with less than 10 employees will not impact employment, but only treats employees and companies unequally”, Ann Selin comments on the situation.
Although useful, yesterday’s meeting between the PAM Executive Committee and the Prime Minister did not change the situation. The meeting was motivated by the Prime Minister’s promise to have new discussions with PAM’s Executive Committee, given in 2016 by Mr. Sipilä when he visited PAM's Executive Committee in connection with the negotiations for the Competitiveness Pact.
“Today, we met with the Prime Minister and appreciate the fact that he was still prepared to discuss with us both regarding the current situation and the measures taken by the Government after the Competitiveness Pact. Despite the useful discussions, the trust in the operation of the Government remains weak”, Ann Selin points out.
On Tuesday, PAM’s Executive Committee made a decision on political strikes which will involve almost 50,000 employees over the following weeks. The information regarding the targeted sites and dates will be given later.
“Our aim is to impact the Finnish Government through these political strikes so that they would withdraw their proposal and start genuine negotiations to lower the threshold of new employment. At the same time, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused by the strikes to outsiders”, she adds.