A record number of new members joined JHL in January – the political industrial actions made more people willing to join
In January, 3,450 members joined JHL, which is approximately three times the amount of people joining compared to a regular January.
The effect of the political strikes can clearly be witnessed in the joiners’ profile, and especially within early childhood education and care that was covered by the strike, JHL’s Director of Organisational Affairs Pertti Paajanen says. Those who work in the Helsinki Metropolitan Region are the largest group of joiners.
– Approximately 40 per cent of the joiners are early childhood education and care professionals, and the majority of them are childcarers. A record number of other personnel, too, joined the union in January, including bachelors of social services and early childhood education and care teachers, Paajanen says.
When it comes to the other sectors covered by the strike, a larger than usual number of, say, transport sector employees and airport security checkers joined.
– The number of people joining created a workload for the union’s Membership Service in a positive sense, and queues of membership applications are still being processed, so the above-mentioned numbers will slightly increase.
The union’s new members, too, were covered by the political strikes organised last week. Thus, with their actions they supported the union’s goals in preventing the Government’s working life weakenings and social security cuts.
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Strikes 2024 – Serious grounds
The Government of Finland is making cuts that hit employees and people with a small income. The Government is going to bring misery to working life and harshly weaken social security. The list of planned cuts also includes limiting the right to strike.
The strikes in spring 2024 are political strikes that oppose the Government Programme’s weakenings to working life.