25 years as the voice of workers

Sitting around a round table at Service Union United PAM’s office in Hakaniemi, Helsinki, are the past and the present of the 25-year-old union: PAM’s very first chair Maj-Len Remahl, her successor Ann Selin and the current chair Annika Rönni-Sällinen. The trio has gathered to discuss what has been achieved in 25 years and where there is still work to be done.

PAM was founded in 2000, when four unions merged and formed the Service Union United PAM.

– At that time, the contract-based society was in fine form. The trade union movement was appreciated and listened to. Legislation was often prepared in a tripartite manner between employee and employer organizations and the state, Remahl recalls.

Many things have changed since then. The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) withdrew from a comprehensive national incomes agreements in 2016.

– At the same time, the decision-making power over labour market issues was transferred to political decision-making. The role of the trade unions is today more about advocacy and lobbying, trying to influence political decisions, Rönni-Sällinen points out.

– Now we can see the results of this change, when EK has influenced the politics made by the current government, Remahl adds.

– The government has weakened the position of workers in many ways, Selin continues.

The three women have also seen how the appreciation of the trade union movement has declined. In some people’s minds, the image of the trade union movement has become more negative than before.

According to Remahl and Selin, one reason for this is a long-term trend in society that has left its mark on all Western countries. Right-wing liberal ideologies have spread across the globe.

– The roots of this lie in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain and Ronald Reagan’s United States, Remahl says.

– The ideology has been lobbied with great money and power, Selin adds.

But working life has changed too: temporary and part-time jobs have continued to increase, new forms of work have emerged: platform work and self-employment. Information technology has blurred the boundaries between professional and personal life, even in service sector professions – gig jobs are often offered through WhatsApp.

– The skills requirements have also increased. Often, the worker has to manage multiple systems. A kiosk salesperson no longer sells candies and magazines from the counter but runs a mini-store, Selin explains.

Another significant change is the increase in the number of employees with an immigrant background. In some places, the working language may have even changed to English.

Better working conditions and equality  

PAM has achieved a lot in its 25 years.

– We have succeeded in improving the rights of part-time employees in collective bargaining. They have received compensation and benefits that were previously only available to full-time employees. The agreements also include conditions on how additional hours should be offered to existing employees, Rönni-Sällinen says.

Improving the position of part-time employees is gender equality work.

Improving the position of part-time employees is gender equality work. The majority of these workers are women.

Equality also took a step forward when, after years of hard work, PAM succeeded in negotiating a new salary system for the commerce sector. It reconciled the skill requirements of the work and salaries. In the future, for example, salespeople and warehouse workers will be paid on the same basis. The system will come into effect next year.

Selin highlights the achievements of her term as a chair, including the collective agreement with good terms and conditions to counterbalance extended store opening hours, and the addition of paternity leave to the collective agreement for the property services sector.

– The two-week paternity leave in the property services sector was a major breakthrough. That led to the reform of family leave. There was also an increased understanding that equality is a matter for all genders, she says.

Remahl emphasizes the everyday hard work carried out in PAM. Over the years, PAM has been able to agree on wage increases and working conditions without a huge fight.

– Although industrial disputes have increased in the 2020s as employers have hardened their stance, Rönni-Sällinen points out.

Something could have been done differently. In hindsight, Selin reflects on how more positive things should have been said about professions in the sector and thus increase professional pride. Good things are easily overshadowed by the work that is done to correct shortcomings.

Work is not yet done

There is still much to be done. For example, the position of part-time workers still needs to be improved. The government’s cuts to social security are particularly affecting them.

Pregnancy discrimination is also a persistent problem, which the government’s planned easing of fixed-term employment may increase even further.

New problems have also emerged.

A big challenge for the entire trade union movement is the decline in union membership. Being a union member is no longer necessarily a thing passed “from father to son” as it used to be.

– The task of the trade union movement is to be the voice of workers. The higher the level of trade union membership, the louder and more powerful that voice is, says Selin.

– It is quite difficult for an individual employee to negotiate working conditions. It is the unions who negotiates wage increases and working conditions, says Rönni-Sällinen.

PAM in 2050

In the future, the trio wants to see a vibrant and influential PAM.

– In the future, the trade union movement will be the channel through which active young people want to make their voices heard, Selin envisions.

– I believe that we will be stronger than ever out there among workers. We have activities and active advocacy in the workplaces, Rönni-Sällinen says.

– PAM is a community that instills professional pride in its members, Remahl sums up.

Text: Anu Vallinkoski
Images: Eeva Anundi