The Helsinki Court of Appeal has ruled that the so-called collective agreement which was concocted by employers for workers distributing unaddressed mail and free-sheet newspapers is not legally valid. The sector had, from the end of 2009, a generally binding collective agreement. Employers were unhappy with it and decided to set up their own ‘trade union’ (called SME), composed of various directors from the major employer in this sector, Janton Corporation. In no time SME made its own ‘collective agreement’ with the employers. The Court of Appeal has overturned an earlier decision of the District Court and has stated that SME cannot be seen as a representative trade union with a right to conclude collective agreements.
English: http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/811-major-victory …
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.