Tuire Santamäki-Vuori, the President of KTV: Primary services should be provided locally

Dr Tuire Santamäki-Vuori, the President of KTV, the largest trade union in Finland, sees problems arising for European social dialogue in the municipal sector. Negotiations for an agreement on distance working are about to commence. In these negotiations CEEP will represent public sector companies as the employers. Currently it is still somewhat unclear as to whether or not these negotiations will cover other areas of the municipal sector, in addition to the public companies, says Dr Santamäki-Vuori.

There are differences between the Nordic countries and Continental Europe in the provision of primary services. For this reason, says Dr Santamäki-Vuori, international representation of the interests of the workers requires a great deal of effort. In her opinion valuable resources are being squandered when individual trade unions try to solve common problems in isolation. The cooperation bodies of the various trade union central organisations, and those of the public sector unions, face a multitude of tasks. Dr Santamäki-Vuori adds that many of those issues which are specific to the public sector have not been given quite the consideration by the trade union central organisations which those in the public sector would have wished.

- To my way of thinking, it is important that those services of which people are constantly in need, are provided locally, says Dr Santamäki-Vuori, who was recently elected as the new President of KTV. In Finland, as well as in the other Nordic countries, primary services are mainly provided by the municipalities, which are largely autonomous and can make independent decicions as to how the tax-payers' money will be used.

Mrs Tuire Santamäki-Vuori, D.Econ, was unanimously elected, in the early summer of 2001, as the President of KTV, which is the largest trade union in Finland and which represents the employees of the municipal sector. The union currently has over 230,000 members, and the majority of this membership is made up of women. Dr Santamäki-Vuori has consistently striven to maintain the provision of primary services in the municipal public sector. She says that the importance of the role of the local authorities does not appear to be fully recognised in Europe. We seem to be blind to something which is both important and valuable. Local democratic decision-making and the provision of services on that level is not always appreciated to the extent that it deserves. The ideology of competitive tendering is accepted rather too readily, Dr Santamäki-Vuori explains.

- Competitive tendering, with its frequent emphasis on commercial advantage, frequently leads to a situation in which the production of private services is being promoted whilst at the same time the most favourable circumstances for such production are being created. Public services have special characteristics which are being ignored in these situations. The social and environmental impact should not be overlooked when decisions on public ventures are being made, states Tuire Santamäki-Vuori.

hilkka.jukarainen@sak.fi