Pam Magazine 6/2014: Collective action gave results
The negotiation result that was achieved by the warehouse workers through a strike will reach its resolution at the turn of May and June.
The warehouse workers are about to receive the protocol improving the terms of employment in warehouse work that they have long fought to have as a part of the collective agreement for the commercial sector. The negotiation result that was born after the strike will be presented for the approval of PAM's Board on 27 May, and the Finnish Commerce Federation will discuss the issue on 3 June.
The PAM committee for the field of warehouse work decided last week that it would propose that the Union Board accept the result of the negotiations.
The result of the negotiations contains, among other things, the models according to which the across-the-board increases will be taken into account in the future in incentive bonuses in warehouse work. In addition, it discusses some issues that are agreed upon locally, such as changing incentive bonuses and working time supplements into free time. In their own goals for the negotiations, the warehouse workers were willing to develop their working hours through local agreements.
However, the biggest issue is that it seems that the workers' long-time wish for their own protocol to the collective agreement for the commercial sector will soon become true. In 2004, an appendix regarding incentive bonuses was already achieved with the help of a strike. For the first time, it included an entry on incentive bonuses that can be paid in addition to the wages in accordance with the collective agreement, if the quality or amount of work are sufficient. A protocol is considered to be more independent than an appendix.
During the negotiations in April, the employer had proposed reductions in the sick leave pay, meaning that the incentive bonuses would not increase sick leave bonuses. This is not mentioned in the negotiation result. Instead, the employees will commit to finding ways of reducing sick leave.
As a part of last autumn's centralised Pact for Employment and Growth, it was agreed that the additional protocol for the warehouse sector would be negotiated by 30 April 2014. The negotiations broke off on the eve of May Day, Wednesday 30 April. The strike began during the night between Thursday and Friday, and it continued until midnight on Saturday. It included warehouses owned by Keslog, Inex Partners, Oriola, Lidl and Tuko Logistics.
The strike is visible on the Facebook page of Joonas Tuomivaara, occupational safety delegate at Keslog and Chairman of the PAM representatives.
“It warmed my heart to see the red line of tail-lights when employees left the workplace”, Tuomivaara wrote as a commentary for the video he shot at Keslog's Hakkila logistics centre at the night when the collective action began. One day earlier, Tuomivaara had changed his profile picture into a photo where he is wearing a bright yellow picket vest.
On the page, someone gives thanks to the warehouse workers for showing others what solidarity looks like.
Tuomivaara tells Pam Magazine that the strike began so quickly, it was difficult to inform all of the workers.
"The strike was worth it, absolutely. Mistakes were also made during the strike. But we will learn from those mistakes, too," he says.
Text:: Tiina Ritala