Immigrants are poorly organised in trade unions

The doors to Finland have been cautiously opened to workers from abroad. There are some 90,000 foreigners living in Finland, and despite the fact that most of these are of working age, less than 50 per cent of them are actually in employment.

Furthermore, immigrants at the moment are poorly organised in trade unions. "Immigrants should be active and should join a trade union as soon as they can. This will give them the opportunity to discover their rights and the details of the collective agreements which have been negotiated for their sector" says Cetin Sahin, who has worked in catering in Finland for ten years.

You can read the interview of Mr Sahin in the latest issue of SAK info magazine. The issue also includes other articles about immigrants in Finland, information on the forthcoming SAK Congress, and columns about the roles of SAK in the European and global context, among other topics. See SAK info 2/01!