Almost all kind of public transport services will remain suspended all over the country on Thursday as the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and its affiliated unions called strike protesting against the government’s moves easing dismissal of employees and austerity measures.
The SAK announced the strike at various sectors on December 7, which was supported by different unions including Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL), Finnish Transport Workers’ Union (Auto- ja Kuljetusalan Työntekijäliitto- AKT), Service Union United (Palvelualojen ammattiliitto) PAM, Finnish Post and Logistics Union (PAU) and Railway Union Association (Rautatiealan Unioni Ry-RAU).
“The member unions of SAK are observing strike at various sectors across the country on Thursday. About 100,000 employees are involved in the strike,” SAK President Jarkko Eloranta wrote in a post in social media platform X in Finnish late Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (Helsingin seudun liikenne – HSL) in a press release on Wednesday said that the political strike will halt almost rail services and bus services on Thursday.
Commuter trains, the metro, trams and light rail and almost all buses will not be operative during the strike, said HSL.
Trams and light rail 15 services will be disrupted until early morning on Friday 15 December.
Commuter trains will not operate from 4am on Thursday morning. The services will resume in the early morning of Friday.
Bus services will be disrupted until early morning on Friday and all metro services will be cancelled on Thursday and the strike may affect services on Friday morning.
According to current information, ferry services to Suomenlinna and Kruunuvuorenranta will run as normal.
Bus route will remain operative on Thursday. The routes are :
16, 21, 21N, 22, 22B, 26, 54, 90, 90A, 90N, 94, 96, 96N, 116, 117, 119, 137, 138, 148, 149, 167, 168, 169, 207, 229, 232, 241, 242, 313, 413, 433, 434, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 576, 583, 584, 603, 625, 701, 702, 704, 713, 719, 723, 801, 802, 805, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816, 817, 818, 839, 839K, 912, 912K, 913, 913A, 913B, 913BT, 914, 914T, 914B, 915, 914A, 915B, 915T, 916, 916K, 917, 919, 964, 965, 966, 967, 971, U191, U192, U193, U195, U999
JHL on December 8, also decided to join the strike at the electricity sector prompting suspension of power generation in several power plants for Thursday.
Power plants in Vantaa, Espoo, Tampere, Naantali and Pietarsaari are participating in the strike.
The electricity production of the power plants on strike will stop for one day because their turbines will be disconnected from the network. District heat production and distribution will continue throughout the industrial action.
Members of Trade Union Pro, Finnish Electrical Workers´ Union, Union of Professional Engineers in Finland and Finnish Engineers’ Association (FEA) are also participating in the strikes.
SAK published the list (in Finnish) of the services and sectors that will be affected by the strike.
Earlier, SAK opposed needless attacks on employee working conditions by the four-party alliance Orpo-Purra right-wing government, and cuts in social welfare that are unfair and inappropriate under current economic conditions.
The trade unions feel that policy proposals of the new Government Programme affecting terms and conditions of employment are unbalanced and disregard the needs of employees.
- Strike
- paralyses
- Public
- Transport
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
