Strike threat
at TeliaSonera and Elisa:
TU issued a strike threat in telecommunication industry
on Wednesday
Toimihenkilöunioni (18.10.2007) The union of salaried employees TU issued a strike threat
that affects almost 8,000 salaried employees of TeliaSonera, Elisa and their subsidiaries
on Wednesday. Industrial action would bring services of these two teleoperators to a
standstill.
Collective bargaining between TU and the employer association TIKLI ran aground on Friday
12 October. Following this TU declared a ban on overtime work.
The major reason for the failure of the negotiations was disagreement on pay-related
issues. The employer’s offer fell far below what the salaried employees had asked
for.
The decision to take industrial action was conveyed to TIKLI and to the National
Conciliator, Juhani Salonius, on Wednesday afternoon. If arbitration fails to lead to an
agreement, the strike will begin on Thursday 1 November at 7 a.m.
At Sonera the strike threat concerns about 5,500 salaried employees, covered by the
collective agreement for the information industry. And at Elisa the same threat of
industrial action concerns about 2,400 salaried employees, covered by the collective
agreement for the telecommunication industry.
In such an event, industrial action would bring both TeliaSonera’s and Elisa’s
telephone and broadband customer services for private persons and companies to a complete
halt. Opening and closing of telephone and internet connections, customer support, network
maintenance and repair plus invoicing would be stopped. It would close down Elisa’s
and Sonera’s retail outlets (Elisa Shopit and Sonera Pisteet) all over the country.
The strike would also cause problems for local retailers who sell the products and
services of these two operators.
In effect, possible industrial action would have an immediate impact on
TeliaSonera’s and Elisa’s entire operations. The strike would initially bring
customer services and deliveries to customers of both teleoperators to an abrupt halt, and
soon paralyse all their other activities.
More information:
The President of TU Antti Rinne,
358-40-5007626
TU’s bargaining secretary Arvi
Herttua 358-50-5252477
Elisa’s shop steward Juha Kivistö
358-50-5066075
TeliaSonera’s deputy shop steward
Tarja Kirvesmies 358-400-450122
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