Various means of industrial action are used in situations where no agreement or understanding is reached with the employer party, and it is not possible to take matters forward only by means of negotiating.
Trade Union JHL looks after its members’ terms and conditions of employment, also by means of industrial action, if necessary.
Industrial actions and means of exerting pressure include walkout, ban on overtime and shift swaps, embargo and work stoppage, i.e. strike. A demonstration or protest either opposes or stands for something, or it is arranged in the hopes of achieving a change.
Industrial actions always have a clear aim. Means of exerting pressure are always undertaken after a decision made by JHL and in a way that complies with the decision. Although taking industrial action is not our goal in itself, branches must always be sufficiently prepared to put industrial action in place.
Strike
Employees do not go to work during a strike. A strike is always the heaviest possible means of taking industrial action. It is always the last possible option in case no agreement is reached with the employer party. The decision to go on strike is made by the union’s Executive Committee, and it is binding on the members.
You will not be paid a salary during a strike. However, if you’re a member of our trade union, you can apply for strike benefit from JHL after the strike is over.
For more information about participating in a strike, visit the strike page.
Current strikes
During 2024, Trade Union JHL is organising political strikes that oppose the Government’s unfair policy of making cuts. Read the current strike information on our Serious Grounds page.
Preparing for a strike, being on strike and returning to work after the strike
The industrial action notice, or strike warning, always describes what work the strike applies to. A strike decision by JHL is binding on its members.
A strike warning always indicates the time of day when the strike begins and when work must end. After that time, no one should go to work.
Other JHL members, members of other unions and non-unionised employees are not allowed to do work subject to the strike action.
Work covered by a strike cannot be outsourced to temporary agency workers or other temporary workforce. In accordance with international practices, job agencies must not supply employees to companies subject to a legal industrial action.
Once a strike warning has been issued, you cannot schedule an annual holiday for the strike period.
How to prepare for a strike:
Work normally in accordance with the shift roster until the strike begins.
Do not do work in advance.
You must also not leave any work undone before the strike.
When you leave the workplace, take with you any personal belongings that you need during the strike. At the employer’s request, you must hand over any fringe benefits (such as a phone or computer).
Check that you have the contact information of your shop steward and/or strike committee.
Follow the union’s communications: JHL’s website, social media channels, member letters and other communications. Your shop steward will give you more information.
Check your membership information in myJHL (e-mail address, phone number, employer, workplace, occupation). In the event of a strike, we will send messages to members’ personal e-mail addresses and phone numbers.
Check your membership information in myJHL.
Also recommend your non-unionised co-workers to join the union.
Follow the union’s instructions
Participate in monitoring the strike by, say, being a picketer or a picketer supporter
Prepare in advance and notify the shop steward and/or strike committee if the employer tries to exert pressure.
Attend strike meetings
JHL members who are not on strike will continue to do their own work, they do not do the work of those on strike.
Follow the union’s communications
Remember that the only reliable source of information during the industrial action is the union.
Do not do work that is covered by the strike!
The employer must not exert any pressure on you in any way if you are taking part in a union-organised industrial action! JHL is prepared for countermeasures. For more information, contact your shop steward or the regional office.
Return to work according to the shift roster or the agreement on ending the strike.
The agreement on ending the strike sets forth the measures and conditions to end the strike.
When the strike is over, you can apply for strike benefit.
Ban on overtime and shift swaps
When collective agreement negotiations are not moving forward, a ban on overtime and/or shift swaps is used as a method for exerting pressure.
What does a ban on overtime mean? During a ban on overtime, everyone works only regular hours. No overtime work is done.
Overtime work is work that exceeds regular working time. The work is done on the employer’s request and with the employee’s consent. Doing overtime work is always voluntary in an employment relationship.
During a ban on overtime it is forbidden to do the following outside of one’s regular working time:
accrue flex hours
do overtime work
be on call if one’s working time extends to overtime work during the time one is on call,
travel.
Public servants cannot refuse overtime work, if working overtime is necessary because of the nature of the job and extremely weighty grounds.
The union will notify separately on whether ordering additional work falls within the ban on overtime.
What does a ban on shift swaps mean? During a ban on shift swaps, everyone complies with the confirmed shift roster.
The ban on shift swaps concerns a shift swap suggested by the employer. Swaps can be made if the employees can agree on them with each other in accordance with established practice. It is possible that the employer will prevent the employees from taking own initiative to swap shifts as a countermeasure to the ban on overtime and shift swaps.
During a ban on overtime and shift swaps, a shop steward does not make any local agreements initiated by the employer concerning working time.
There is no obligation to notify of a ban on overtime and shift swaps in advance, contrary to notifying of a strike. This means that the ban may be put into place quickly.
Collective agreements may include stipulations on changing the confirmed shift roster. Check your collective agreement.
General instructions for ban on overtime and/or shift swaps
If you are asked to continue your shift, to swap it or to work an extra shift, refuse on the grounds of the ban on overtime and/or shift swaps.
If your employer orders you to continue your shift despite this, you should stay at work. You will then avoid a groundless termination of employment. Immediately notify the shop steward or the union’s regional office of the matter. Demand your employer to give the order in a verifiable format: e-mail, text message or with the form named “Order given by employer”. Hold on to the message you received and deliver it to your shop steward or regional office.
If there is pressuring involved in the situation, or if the employer representative is threatening you, contact your shop steward or the union’s regional office immediately. Tell the employer representative that this kind of action is inappropriate.
This is a ban that your trade union has declared. You are not personally responsible for the ban or its consequences. If you suspect that you will be under pressure from your employer, contact the shop steward or regional office.
The ban has been put to place with your interests in mind. Its purpose is to put pressure on the negotiating table.
JHL members follow JHL’s instructions. The instructions given by the unions may differ from each other.
The employer may not necessarily settle for being subjected to an industrial action. They will likely take active countermeasures. JHL is prepared for the countermeasures. For more information, contact your shop steward or the regional office.
Is your information correct in our membership register? myJHL asks for your e-mail address, mobile phone number, occupational title and your employer. Go check these and, if necessary, update them!
When your membership information is up to date, you can be sure that the right messages from JHL will reach you. These messages may be, say, instructions on industrial action measures in your workplace.
If you’ve already logged into myJHL previously, log into the service with your username and password.
In case you’ve never visited myJHL before, read instructions on how to log in on the myJHL info page.
A demonstration or protest takes place outside one’s working time. The activities are not aimed at working, it is not an industrial action. Demonstrations or protests are usually arranged because people stand for something, oppose something or want something to change.
Demonstration is a right based on section 13 of the Constitution of Finland.
Emergency work
Emergency work is based on the Working Time Act. It is the employer’s duty to promptly notify the occupational safety and health authorities of the emergency work in writing.
The emergency work stipulation must be interpreted narrowly:
Emergency work can only be required in a situation in which there is a sudden reason that could not have been known beforehand. The need to order employees to perform emergency work is therefore unforeseeable and of a kind that the work cannot be postponed to be performed at a later date.
The employer must prepare for regularly occurring unforeseeable events so that the consequences of these events can be rectified without the need for emergency work (e.g. sick leave and annual holidays). A strike for which advance notification has been provided is not an unforeseeable event that would afford the right to require the performance of emergency work as stipulated in the Working Time Act.
If, during a strike, something unforeseeable were to occur that enables the employer to require emergency work, emergency work may be ordered with strict limitations.
A strike is not grounds for requiring long-term, extensive emergency work.
Employees’ unforeseen refusal to work overtime may constitute grounds for requiring the performance of emergency work. If, however, the employer is aware in advance that the employees will refuse to work overtime due to a ban on overtime, for example, there are no grounds for emergency work.
An employee cannot refuse to carry out emergency work.
It is the employer’s duty to promptly notify the occupational safety and health authorities of the emergency work in writing.
It is imperative for the shop steward to attach their opinion to the emergency work notice!
When can emergency work be required?
Emergency work is based on the Working Time Act. It is the employer’s duty to promptly notify the occupational safety and health authorities of the emergency work in writing. The emergency work notice must also include an opinion by the employees’ shop steward or elected representative or, if neither of these has been elected in the workplace, the OSH representative. In the absence of any kind of personnel representative, each of the employees covered by the notice must be reserved an opportunity to express their view. More information is also available on the työsuojelu.fi website.
An employer may require an employee to perform emergency work when an unforeseeable event interrupts or seriously threatens to interrupt regular operations or to put life, health, property or the environment at risk.
Emergency work in addition to regular working time may only be required to the extent necessary and for a period of no more than two weeks. Emergency work may derogate from what is stipulated in sections 8, 17 and 24–27.
Once emergency work ends, the working time must be averaged out to no more than what is stipulated in section 18 and the employee must be granted a compensatory rest period as stipulated in section 25, paragraph 4 and section 28, paragraph 2.
Instructions for investigating misuse of emergency work
When the employer provides notice that they are requiring employees to perform emergency work, the shop steward must ensure that the emergency work notice has been filed as required by law.
The shop steward must without exception attach their opinion to the emergency work notice, giving their view of whether the reason for the emergency work required by the employer is an unforeseeable event, and whether it puts life, health or property at risk.
In accordance with the Working Time Act, the Regional State Administrative Agency supervises the requirement of performance of emergency work. Send the emergency work notice to the Occupational Safety and Health Division at Regional State Administrative Agency of Southwestern Finland.
The shop steward must carefully gather all the information related to emergency work:
the work done
dates and times
number of employees
copies of records of the hours that the employees have worked
a copy of the emergency work notice and shop steward’s opinion.
The occupational safety and health authority may intervene in emergency work by limiting it or stopping the employer from requiring it.
If there is an unclear situation that should be investigated in the union, send the information to JHL’s central office by e-mail to kirjaamo@jhl.fi with “Emergency work notice” as the e-mail subject. We will investigate the matter and contact the controlling authority.
Is your information correct in our membership register?
The myJHL service asks for your e-mail address, mobile phone number, occupational title and employer. Go check these and, if necessary, update them!
When your membership information is up to date, you can be sure that the right messages from JHL will reach you. These messages may be, say, instructions on industrial actions in your workplace.
If you’ve already logged into myJHL previously, log into the service with your username and password.
In case you’ve never visited myJHL before, read instructions on how to log in on the myJHL info page.
Guidelines in case of another union’s industrial action
Trade unions operate independently in their decisions to engage in industrial action. A single trade union can only decide on its own members’ participation in an industrial action. SAK, STTK and Akava have agreed on common ground rules in situations where members of different central organisations are employed by the same workplace and one of the unions launches industrial action.
The shop steward at the workplace must ensure that JHL’s members comply with the principles agreed on between the employee confederations and refuse to perform work covered by a strike. If non-compliance is observed, the union’s regional office must be contacted.
Members of unions that are not part of the industrial action perform their own work, but not the work that is covered by the industrial action.
This principle is complied with also in situations where the work is the same or nearly the same as the work that is subject to the strike action. They therefore do not perform other people’s work by changing their shifts, working overtime or by stepping up the pace of their work.
The exception to this rule is emergency work and, for public servants, protection work, which carry an obligation to be performed in order to safeguard human life, health or property. If the employer demands that certain work be performed as protection or emergency work during the industrial action, they must always contact the respective shop steward before such work is started.
Impediment to work because of another organisation’s industrial actions
If the employee’s work is impeded by another organisation’s industrial actions (e.g. strike), the employee must notify their employer that they are at the employer’s disposal. Thus, the employer is obligated to pay salary to the employee.
The collective agreement KVTES makes it possible to change work duties temporarily for eight weeks. The employee then has the right to a salary that corresponds to their actual job. Temporary work must not be work subject to the strike action. If the employer refuses to pay salary, one must inquire the employer what their reasons for this are. The employer’s answer must be written down for possible future investigation.
If the employer’s measures impede the employee’s work and salary payment, the employee has the right to the union’s strike benefit in this situation.
Working in an agreement sector other than the sector of one’s own union
A member of JHL is on strike if they work under the agreement sector of another trade union that is part of the SAK confederation of trade unions and the trade union in question engages in industrial action. In such cases, the member complies with the strike guidelines of the trade union in question. The union organising the industrial action pays JHL’s member the strike benefit.
This approach also applies to members of other trade unions that are part of the SAK confederation of trade unions, in the event that the industrial action has been decided by JHL. In such cases, the members of other SAK-affiliated unions apply for their strike benefit from JHL.
Industrial action concepts
Check what the concepts related to industrial actions mean.
During a ban on overtime and shift swaps decided on by JHL, the members refrain from working overtime and swapping shifts. Employees who work in positions that the overtime ban applies to work only according to their regular working hours. It is forbidden to, say, accrue flex hours, perform additional work and work overtime, be on call outside one’s regular working hours and to travel. An overtime ban cannot be used as an industrial action for public servants.
During a ban on shift swaps, only working hours according to the confirmed shift roster are performed. Shift-swapping or any other changes to working hours proposed by the employer are rejected.
Any other concessions, such as performing grey overtime and accruing flex hours is forbidden during a ban on overtime and shift swaps. In this situation, the shop steward must refrain from any local agreements proposed by the employer concerning working hours.
A compensatory fine or strike fine is a sanction imposed by the Labour Court for an illegal strike on an employer union, a branch or a trade union. A compensatory fine cannot be imposed on an individual employee for taking part in an illegal strike.
A compensatory fine can be imposed on a public servant for taking part in an illegal strike.
The Union Council or Executive Committee makes the decision concerning an industrial action. The decision is binding to the members. An industrial action notice is given after the decision.
An embargo is an industrial action comparable to a demonstration or sympathy strike which involves employees of other companies refraining from working with and seeking work in the company under an embargo.
Industrial action is a means of exerting pressure. It is used, say, during collective agreement negotiations, if no agreement is reached.
Industrial actions include work stoppages i.e. strikes, bans on overtime and shift swaps, embargoes and walkouts.
The right to industrial action falls within the scope of freedom of association, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The right to strike is a universal and generally approved basic employee right.
Job search embargo means that JHL members should not seek work in the companies targeted by the embargo. A job search embargo is a valid reason for refusing work. If you are an unemployed jobseeker, you may refrain from seeking work offered by the TE Office and covered by the embargo. You will not be put under a mandatory waiting period.
A lockout is an industrial action implemented by the employer. A lockout means that the employer prevents employees’ access to the workplace, interrupts the payment of their salaries or wages and declares the workplace closed so that employees cannot carry out work covered by the lockout action.
A lockout can be carried out, for instance, as a fixed-term action or as isolated days. A lockout can also be limited to the members of a particular trade union. The declaration of a lockout can apply to an individual company or to all member companies of an employer association.
Non-members and members of other unions are not obliged to carry out the work tasks which fall within the scope of the industrial action and which they do not normally perform. They have the right to refrain from carrying out such work tasks. Employee confederations have mutually agreed to apply the neutrality principle during industrial actions.
According to the acts on collective agreements, agreement parties are not to take any industrial actions during the validity of a collective agreement that fall within the scope of such a collective agreement.
When the validity of a collective agreement ends, a so-called period without agreement begins. In this situation, various industrial actions are legal.
A picketer is a person monitoring that the strike is implemented. Picketers’ task is to encourage all those wishing to perform work that is within the scope of the strike to leave the workplace.
Picketers maintain order in front of the workplace on strike, distribute strike bulletins, and monitor employers’ actions.
The most important task of picketers is to encourage all those wishing to perform work that is within the scope of the strike to leave the workplace.
A political strike is a legal strike. Its primary goals are not related to the terms and conditions of employment, but rather the purpose is to pursue political or societal goals. The employer cannot refuse participation in an industrial action during one’s working time. An industrial action is an acceptable reason for absence. Public servants cannot take part in a political industrial action. In addition, one must comply with the possible emergency work order.
Protection work refers to work pursuant to legislation on collective agreements for public servants that is necessary to prevent the health or lives of citizens from being endangered or to protect assets that are specifically endangered due to the industrial action.
The obligation to perform protection work only applies to public servants. Even in these cases, employees do not carry out office or administrative work.
The right to strike of occupational groups that are considered critical for the society is normally restricted. Public servants belonging to these occupational groups are obliged to perform protection work also during strikes.
Employees have no obligation to carry out protection work.
Trade Union JHL pays its striking members a strike benefit. A condition for the payment is that the member has paid the membership fees and abides by the decisions and instructions issued by the union.
The amount of the benefit is determined by JHL’s Executive Committee. The benefit is income subject to tax.
A strikebreaker is person who carries out work tasks falling within the scope of the strike or does not abide by the union’s decision on the industrial action. A strikebreaker may also be a member of another union or a non-member. If, for an exceptional reason, an employee has been granted permission to work by the union, they are not a strikebreaker, but a picketer will write down the employee’s name and working hours.
A strikebreaker works against their colleagues for the benefit of the employer.
The strike committee handles strike-related matters, liaising with the shop stewards and contact persons in the workplaces on strike, among other things. The nature and area of responsibility of the strike committees always depend on the nature of the strike. Strike committees may be regional, local or company specific.
The central strike committee, i.e. the union’s Executive Committee, sets out the strike limits, in other words the work tasks and workplaces that the strike concerns. The industrial action notice, or strike warning, specifies the work tasks that the strike applies to. These tasks shall not be performed – whether the employee concerned is a union member or not. More detailed negotiations are held locally. Minutes are drawn up of the negotiations, and delivered to the regional office.
A strike warning is an advance notification of a pending strike/industrial action. The notice is delivered to the employer and the National Conciliator no later than 14 days before the start of the planned strike. The strike warning specifies the timing (duration), method of implementation, reasons and scope of the industrial action.
A strike refers to a temporary cessation of work. A strike or a work stoppage means that certain work tasks are not performed for a given period of time. The decision to go on strike is always made by the union’s Executive Committee, meaning that it is an administrative measure binding on the members.
It is the work that is on strike, not the people. An employee’s or a public servant’s employment relationship remains in force during the strike, but no salary is paid. Public servants included in the strike do not have an obligation to work, and the employer has no right to direct work nor any other authority with respect to the strikers. The employer must not exert any pressure on employees taking part in a union-organised strike.
A sympathy strike refers to a strike which is organised to demonstrate support for the strikers of another sector or location. Sympathy strikes are legal industrial actions if the requirements concerning advance notifications and formalities are met.
A walkout is used for exerting pressure on the employer. The employees cease working and leave the workplace, normally for a relatively short period.
