SAK looks for fresh approaches to old challenges in today’s changing environment

Collective bargaining, equality, income poverty, organizing

SAK's 18th Congress concluded its three-day session on Wednesday afternoon in Tampere. The most important decisions were the approval of the new action program for the next five years and the re-election of the top leadership. As expected, the Congress handled the multitude of documents and issues without any significant disagreements.

Discussions on topics were vivid, concrete and constructive, and also critical - it is clear that today&#;8217s activists want to have their own say on various issues. Final formulations were hammered out openly at the Congress instead of being made behind closed doors by a handful of SAK's leading social-democrats and members of the Left Alliance - as has often been the case in the past.

Although the major issues - collective bargaining, equality, income poverty and organizing - were not new, there is still much work be done to update both political and organizational conclusions, especially in today’s rapidly changing environment. This work will continue after the Congress.

For its stakeholders (other union organizations, political parties, NGOs and government organs), SAK is a very trustworthy partner. It is constantly striving to find solutions to the problems that wage and salary earners regularly face. Often, SAK and its unions are criticized as being 'stiff' or 'old-fashioned', but this kind of criticism is not based on solid facts - it is just propaganda aiming to hurt the trade union movement. Such criticism tries to make the 'SAK family' abandon its values. The Congress confirmed that values based on solidarity and fairness are the starting points for all work carried out by SAK’s network of organizations.

"The problems of wage and salary earners are today more complex than they have ever been. SAK's main line in its search for solutions to these problems is constructive dialogue with its stakeholders. However, if persistent discussions and negotiations do not lead to acceptable compromises, then SAK and its unions are ready to take industrial actions - but only as the final ultimatum," stressed Lauri Lyly, President of SAK, at the press conference after his re-election.

Photos from SAK's Congress (Flickr)