SeriousGrounds to strike

The aim of a political strike is to affect a societal issue, not the terms and conditions of employment in a collective agreement. 

Political strikes are legal. The right to strike on political grounds protected by the Finnish Constitution and international treaties.

Unlike for strikes related to collective bargaining, there’s no time limit set in law or in PAM’s collective agreements on when notice of a political strike must be given. 

We are not opposed to employers or the government. These strikes are resistance to proposals from the Orpo-Purra Government that would unreasonably weaken job security, drastically cut social welfare, and restrict the right to strike.  

In the strikes workers will walkout from the workplace, which will disrupt the operations of businesses. Such disruptions are an aspect of a right to political industrial action that is protected under the Finnish Constitution and in international treaties. 

We want the Orpo-Purra Government to withdraw its policies that hurt workers. The Orpo-Purra Government has decided to erode workers standing in order to pay for their economic program and benefit their backers.

The Orpo-Purra Government has already begun preparing many proposals to undermine working conditions, cut social welfare and restrict the right to strike. The Government is already seeking to introduce a major segment of these losses and cuts within a year. Some of the cuts in unemployment benefit have alreade taken effect at the start of 2024. 

Read more about this Government’s policies

We have been forced to take this action, because the Orpo-Purra Government has not listened to the legitimate concerns of workers. The tripartite working groups set up by the Government are largely a pretence at consultation, because the Government has already determined the outcome in advance. No other government has behaved in this way for decades. 

PAM’s Executive Committee decides on when and where there will be a strike. You get information about a SeriousGrounds strike at your workplace from your union representative (luottamusmies) and PAM’s regional office. Each strike location is also made public on this website the day before the strike.

Strike locations

Yes, you can. But in order to get strike pay you need to be a union member when the strike begins.

Read more about strike pay

No. Strike action is a legal right of workers. PAM will give notice of the strike to the employers. Workers don’t need to notify their employer of strike action beforehand. The employer is not allowed to ask whether a worker will participate in a strike or if they are a member of the union. 

No. The right to strike is a fundamental right. If your employer pressures you or your co-workers, inform your union representative (luottamusmies) or PAM regional office right away. 

A strike is a collective action decided by a trade union. As an individual worker you cannot decided to go on strike on your own. 

There are other ways you can take action and support PAM’s demands. Read more

You apply for strike pay by filling out an electronic form after the strike.

You can apply for strike pay if you would have had a minimum four hour work shift at the strike location. Payment of strike pay requires that you’re a paying member of PAM or another trade union and that your membership started no later than the day of the strike.

The application form will be available on Friday of the week of the strike. Only fill the application once.

More on strike pay, eligibility, and how to apply here.

You do not need to register for a strike in advance. After the strike you can apply for strike pay and that is confirmation that you took part. 

Read more about strike pay

You leave your shift when the strike begins. 

Do the closing work – for example locking up, carefully as you normally would – before the strike starts. It is good to agree beforehand how the closing work will be done so that leaving the workplace goes well. If need be, you can hand over the keys against a receipt or in some other way that proves you have given the keys back.

You leave your shift when the strike starts. You don’t return to work in the middle of a shift if the strike ends during your shift.

Example 1: The shift starts at 4:00 and the strike starts at 6:00.
You go to work as normal at 4:00 and finish working at 6:00 when the strike begins.

Example 2: Shift is at 22:00-6:00, and the strike ends at 23:59.
You don’t go to work in the middle of the shift. You go back to work when your next shift starts.

Yes, you can. As a worker of a temporary agency, you don’t need to and should not do work that is covered by the strike.

As a temporary agency worker, you can strike if: 

• you work at a location that is covered by the strike 
• you are called by the agency to work at a strike location during the strike. 

Even if you are called into work, you can decline. You can apply for strike pay, if you would have had at least a four hour shift during the work stoppage and you therefore loose income.

Read more about strike pay

The employer cannot make you work at a location that is on strike. The strike covers the work done at the strike location.

If you have agreed in your employment contract to rotate at several locations and don’t have a regular work site, you just do your work as usual. A move cannot be made outside your regular work sites. The employer cannot in a strike rely on your contractual obligation to work at different establishments within the company.

If you do gig work, you can take work that is not covered by the strike. In a strike you should refuse to work at a strike location.

If your employer threatens with repercussions, contact your union representative (luottamusmies) or the regional office immediately.

Don’t go to work. The strike also applies to part-time workers. Work at specific workplaces are on strike, and that work should not be done. 

You can apply for strike pay if: 

• you are a paying member of PAM or another trade union  (Note! YTK is not a trade union) 
• you lose income because of the strike and your shift would have been at least four hours long. 

Read more about strike pay

If you are doing compulsory work training at a strike site you should see the union representative for instructions in case your studies could be delayed by taking part in the strike. In general, no-one should do work covered by a strike.

If you work in one of PAM’s sectors, for example as a cleaner or or in the staff restaurant, at a another trade union’s strike location, then your work is not part of the strike.

If you work for example as a child nurse at a kindergarten where the trade union JHL has declared a strike, then you go on strike with the other employees and apply for strike pay from the trade union that declared the strike, in this case JHL. More information available on the website or via the helpline of the union that declared the strike.

You need not and should not do the work of an employee that is on strike. PAM’s Executive Committee decides the companies and locations of the strike. You can decline.

PAM has announced in its strike notification that strikes will be carried out in such a way that the advance polling stations for Presidential Elections in connection with commercial premises can function normally during the strikes. What does this mean?

• The strike in the retail sector drawn at the checkout counters. Even if the entire shop is closed, advance voting is still possible because the advance polling station is never located inside the shop, but in the general premises of the commercial property.

• Election officers at advance polling stations are trained and paid by the municipality. Employees covered by the Commerce sector collective agreement do not work at polling stations and therefore the strike does not result in absences of election officers.

• The strike does not prevent the opening of general premises and polling stations, as shop spaces can be closed by means of gates and various barriers for the duration of the strike, even though the public spaces of the property are open on the day of the strike.

• If, in normal circumstances, a guard or property services employee is needed to open and close the general premises, such work is excluded from the strike and is allowed during the strike to enable advance voting. If, under normal circumstances, private security services have been designed to ensure public safety, such activities are also excluded from the strike. If an employee subject to the Commerce sector collective agreement performs postal functions at the establishment and the postal office in question handles delivery of advance voting envelopes, such work is also excluded from the strike.

• Service Union United PAM and employees organised in PAM are not responsible for the opening, closing nor the public security of commercial property, but it is the owners and the companies operating in the property that are responsible to ensure for the accessibility of the public spaces in the property.

If there are unexpected situations outside the situations referred to above that may endanger advance voting, the questions can be addressed by e-mail to lakko@pam.fi or jarjesto@pam.fi.

If the training takes place outside your workplace, you can take part in it. 

If you become sick before a strike starts and you are sick on the day of the strike, you must be paid sick pay as usual for the time of the strike. Send your medical certificates to your employer without delay and tell your employer when you recover. 

If you become sick after going on strike, legal practice is that the employer doesn’t have to pay you sick pay for strike days. However, you are entitled to health insurance daily allowances. 

An employer is not allowed to put an employee in an unequal position on the basis of union activity. The employee has the right to use occupational health services on the day of a strike. The same goes for other benefits such as vouchers for culture and sports.

You can always ask for help from your union representative (luottamusmies). Please contact him or her if you have any questions!

You can also call the employment helpline Monday-Wednesday from 10am to 8pm at 030 100 625 or email lakko@pam.fi. 

A strike picket represents the workers on strike and PAM in front of the strike location. If you are a member of PAM you can become a strike picket. It is indeed recommended. 

Pickets ensure order in front of striking workplaces, distribute strike bulletins, tell persons arriving at the workplace that a strike is on, monitor employers’ actions and report to the strike committee on consumers’ comments and impressions and any strike-breakers etc.  

Pickets are not entitled to prevent anyone entering the workplace or to meet without permission inside the workplace. 

As a picket you can also be on duty outside a striking workplace where you do not work yourself. You can register as a picket by e-mailing your regional office. Picket duty shifts are arranged in advance, with the length of shifts adapted to working times and conditions at the workplace. Pickets always carry a PAM badge. 

Wages or for example lunch vouchers are not paid for the day you are on strike. PAM compensates the lost income by paying strike pay to union members that went on strike. Read more about strike pay

Employees are in principle obliged to try to get to work by all reasonable means.

If there is no replacement public transport, you have no car, carpooling or cycling is not possible due to the length of the journey, a strike may be considered a valid reason to stay away from work. In these circumstances, absence cannot be considered unjustified, and therefore cannot lead to a warning or other consequences. However, the employer is not obliged to pay wages during the absence.

It is recommended that you explain the situation to your employer in advance and agree on how to proceed.

No. The right to strike is a fundamental right. Everybody has the right to take part in a strike. The Criminal Code forbids discrimination at work, that means an employer is not allowed to treat a worker differently because they took part in strike action. 

Therefore an employer is not allowed to terminate an employment contract or to terminate the employment of anyone on probation or a temporary contract. An employer may not discriminate against an employee taking part in strike action, for example when deciding on working hours, working time, pay rises and so on. (Criminal Code, Chapter 47, Section 3). 

If your employer threatens you, you should contact your union representative (luottamusmies) or PAM regional office. We at PAM take all threats seriously and investigate them. 

The start of a strike does not interrupt annual holiday that has already begun. Employers must pay holiday pay as normal before a strike starts. 

If your holiday ends when the strike is on, contact your union representative. Payment of holiday bonus requires going back to work after the holiday. Talk to you union representative about any arrangements regarding this. 

If a strike starts before agreed annual holiday, the worker is on strike and the holiday is rescheduled. 

If a strike and pre-announced holiday start on the same day, the worker is on annual holiday, since annual holiday starts at 00.00 and the strike only afterwards (that is when your shift would start).