Jorma Skippari to represent SAK, STTK and AKAVA in Brussels

Senior lawyer Jorma Skippari, aged 47, became in January the Director of Key Finland which is the representative office in Brussels of the Finnish trade union central organisations, SAK, STTK and AKAVA. Mr Skippari succeeds Mr Heikki Pohja who returned to Finland to take up his new appointment as the Managing Director of the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Jorma Skippari, who attained in his studies the degree of Master of Laws, has been involved with the trade union movement over a considerable period, working first as the lawyer of the Union of Technical Employees for more than ten years. This was followed by his appointment, in 1992, as the senior lawyer of STTK, the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees.

Jorma Skippari has participated extensively in the development of Finnish labour legislation and is experienced in EU law through his engagements on numerous steering committees for EU issues under the auspices of various ministries and also by way of his participation in a number of working groups within ETUC, the European Trade Union Confederation. Jorma Skippari has gained further international experience whilst working for STTK, an example being as a delegate to the ILO. During the year 2000, he spent an introductory period of three months in Brussels, in order to study the role of Key Finland.