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4 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 20/2000
A strike by key Finnish chemical, oil, gas and petrochemical workers is set to spread.
Some 5,000 workers launched an indefinite strike yesterday afternoon at the call of their union Kemianliitto. The union has so far targeted 22 key companies in a national dispute over pay and working hours. If the conflict is not resolved by next Thursday 23 March, the union will call out a further 8,000 workers in the plastics and chemical products sectors.
Sympathy action has also been pledged by Kemianliitto's sister union in Sweden, Industrifacket. The Swedish union will black any work transferred from Finland to Sweden during the dispute, but will also halt all regular trade in chemicals between Sweden and Finland. The main companies affected by the Swedish action will be Kemira (specialty chemicals), Aga (industrial gases) and Borealis (polyolefins and phenols).
The Swedish union immediately promised the solidarity action after it had been alerted by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Kemianliitto and Industrifacket are both ICEM affiliates.
The scale of the Finnish and Swedish action means that other Finnish sectors will rapidly encounter serious supply problems. Among those worst affected would be the paper and steel industries.
The key issues for the Finnish chemical workers are shorter working hours, especially in continuous shiftwork, and a reform of the wage structure. The chemical employers' final pay offer would have meant rises smaller than those obtained in other Finnish sectors. For continuous shift workers, the union wanted a 33.6 hour week, instead of the current 34.8 hours. The worktime patterns demanded by Kemianliitto are already operating in the other Nordic countries and in some Finnish industries, but the chemical employers were intransigent on this issue.
The paper workers, too, have major current grievances. They want tighter restrictions on the use of subcontractors, shorter working hours and a significant pay increase.
Protracted negotiations in the chemical sector - latterly in the presence of a government mediator - broke down after the employers rejected a union proposal for a three-year agreement.
In a statement issued today, the Finnish union said it was "regrettable" that "the employer side did not take Kemianliitto's proposal seriously enough to avert the present dispute."
"Our Finnish brothers and sisters are entirely justified in taking industrial action," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs today. "We will ensure full international support for their campaign. We particularly applaud the rapid response of our Swedish colleagues. Unity is the only way to preserve and improve the workers' gains."
Some 5,000 workers launched an indefinite strike yesterday afternoon at the call of their union Kemianliitto. The union has so far targeted 22 key companies in a national dispute over pay and working hours. If the conflict is not resolved by next Thursday 23 March, the union will call out a further 8,000 workers in the plastics and chemical products sectors.
Sympathy action has also been pledged by Kemianliitto's sister union in Sweden, Industrifacket. The Swedish union will black any work transferred from Finland to Sweden during the dispute, but will also halt all regular trade in chemicals between Sweden and Finland. The main companies affected by the Swedish action will be Kemira (specialty chemicals), Aga (industrial gases) and Borealis (polyolefins and phenols).
The Swedish union immediately promised the solidarity action after it had been alerted by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Kemianliitto and Industrifacket are both ICEM affiliates.
The scale of the Finnish and Swedish action means that other Finnish sectors will rapidly encounter serious supply problems. Among those worst affected would be the paper and steel industries.
The key issues for the Finnish chemical workers are shorter working hours, especially in continuous shiftwork, and a reform of the wage structure. The chemical employers' final pay offer would have meant rises smaller than those obtained in other Finnish sectors. For continuous shift workers, the union wanted a 33.6 hour week, instead of the current 34.8 hours. The worktime patterns demanded by Kemianliitto are already operating in the other Nordic countries and in some Finnish industries, but the chemical employers were intransigent on this issue.
The paper workers, too, have major current grievances. They want tighter restrictions on the use of subcontractors, shorter working hours and a significant pay increase.
Protracted negotiations in the chemical sector - latterly in the presence of a government mediator - broke down after the employers rejected a union proposal for a three-year agreement.
In a statement issued today, the Finnish union said it was "regrettable" that "the employer side did not take Kemianliitto's proposal seriously enough to avert the present dispute."
"Our Finnish brothers and sisters are entirely justified in taking industrial action," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs today. "We will ensure full international support for their campaign. We particularly applaud the rapid response of our Swedish colleagues. Unity is the only way to preserve and improve the workers' gains."