SAK affiliated unions put forward 58 initiatives to the Congress

Efforts to improve the status of temporary employees and the self-employed as well as developing the skills of wage and salary employees are some of the major issues covered in the initiatives put forward to the 18th SAK Congress by the affiliated unions. Several initiatives also propose that the working conditions of shop stewards and safety representatives are improved.

The unions have put forward a record number of initiatives - altogether 58 - with the Metalworkers' Union being the most active with 20 initiatives.

The Service Union United PAM and the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL propose closer cooperation across union borders between shop stewards and safety representatives. The Paper Workers' Union also wants cooperation across union borders between representatives of the personnel.

PAM, JHL and the Metalworkers' Union propose actions to guarantee equality in legislation and collective agreements for people with different status in work life. PAM's initiative is based on the idea that a parallel is drawn in the legislation between the self-employed and wage and salaried employees. It would offer the self-employed the social and job security that wage and salaried employees now enjoy.

The Metalworkers' Union wants SAK to intervene in the phenomena where wage and salaried employees are forced to become entrepreneurs, although it is, in fact, a question of atypical employment relations and the transfer of the entrepreneur's risk from the employers to the employees.

Several unions want to simplify and to make clearer the system of unemployment security. One initiative aims to amalgamate the several unemployment funds serving SAK&#;8217s rank and file members.

The Metalworkers' Union and the Finnish Food Workers' Union demand that SAK strives to retain the current minimum retirement age of 63 years.

Seven initiatives handle wage and salary earners’ skills and education opportunities. The red line running through these initiatives is based on education opportunities that treat various employee groups equally and are flexible in relation to the individual needs of the employees.

The role of the union confederation SAK is covered in a few initiatives. The Union of Electrical Workers proposes a thorough reform of the training system of SAK and its affiliated unions. The Construction Trade Union and the Post and Logistics Union PAU would like SAK to be primarily an expert organization. However, the Transport Workers' Union AKT takes the opposite view: SAK should remain a strong people's movement with regional offices also in the future.

Photos from SAK's Congress (Flickr)