SAK campaigns to mobilise union members at election time

With a major campaign launched in January, SAK is encouraging union members to go to the polls for the parliamentary elections due to be held in Finland on 16 March.

The campaign seeks to address concerns about falling turnout in successive elections. Just over half of the members of SAK-affiliated trade unions said that they would vote at the last parliamentary election, compared to only 45 per cent announcing a similar intention this time round. This would mean nearly 600,000 such workers staying at home on polling day.

While 83 per cent of Finns on higher incomes turned out to vote at the last general election, only about half of their less affluent fellow citizens did likewise. Just over one-third of the unemployed chose to express their democratic rights on polling day. SAK believes that it is of the greatest importance for democracy and justice that 16 March this year is not merely an election for the better off, and that people with smaller incomes and lower social standing also cast their votes.

The SAK campaign enjoys broad support. According to a survey conducted last autumn, 78 per cent of the Finns believe that the trade union movement should take firm steps to campaign for increased voter activity. SAK also campaigned in advance of the 1999 general election and its work was warmly appreciated by the public.

Comedy with a serious purpose

The SAK campaign includes a newspaper and television advertising campaign in the run-up to the election. The campaign slogan is vote or suffer!" SAK is piling on the humour as it describes what can happen in society when people are indifferent to their rights.

All parliamentary candidates have now received SAK's programme of objectives for the coming electoral period. SAK has also published a booklet for shop stewards outlining the organisation's views on important goals for the next Parliament and providing some facts to encourage discussion at workplaces. A leaflet specifying SAK's position on the main election themes will also be distributed at workplaces as the election approaches.

The SAK campaign will cost just under EUR 300,000.

You can visit the campaign website at www.sak.fi/vaalit2003 (in Finnish).

See also

- SAK objectives for the legislative period 2003-2007. Finnish model - results by means of confidence and cooperation (SAK's website 30.10.2002)
- Parliamentary elections in March: SAK lobbies for major goals in 2003-2007 (Trade Union News from Finland 10.1.2003)
- Employee confederations urge union members to vote (KEY Finland 31.1.2003)