Two first timers from the JHL express their satisfaction with the Congress

Like many others Erja Starck and Merja Latvaniemi are for the first time official representatives of their own union at a SAK Congress, which are held once every five years. Both are experienced trade unionists. They are organized in the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors and have been elected as shop stewards in their respective work organizations.

Starck and Latvaniemi feel like they are among people who belong to the same "family" at the Congress. They are especially happy with the speeches where representatives of the private sector unions have strongly spoken out in favour of public services.

Latvaniemi, who works as a cleaner for the Defence Administration is taken by the draft action programme demand of at least EUR 1,800 per month minimum wage in collective agreements by 2016. Currently, many cleaners earn less than EUR 1,500 from full-time work.

And both Starck and Latvaniemi are impressed by the Construction Trade Union's ability to include plenty of young activists in their delegation.

Starck herself said in her speech at the Congress that in the health care organization where she works as a full-time shop steward it has not been so difficult to attract young people to union activities. "The same concerns employees from immigrant backgrounds. Often they have reacted positively to concrete and personal invitations."

Photos from SAK's Congress (Flickr)