Published: 18 Mar 2010
Govt mediator set to negotiate end to 12 days walk out by Finland's 3,000 dock workers
Talks to end Finland's nationwide port strike resumed yesterday after the port employers' association and the AKT transport workers union agreed to meet again, The Journal of Commerce Online reports.
A government-appointed mediator called for a resumption of talks on the twelfth day of the walk-out by some 3,400 longshoremen.
A key issues still to be resolved is compensation for laid-off dockworkers.
The strike began on March 4, after AKT Finnish dock workers leader Simo Nurmi contacted the International Transport Workers' Federation to advise the collective agreement of AKT dockers has expired a while ago and the negotiations, led by the state conciliator, did not end with a result."Therefore the round 3000 AKT dockers have started a strike this morning at 6 o'clock in all Finnish ports which means that not much is happening in the ports at the moment," he said.
"We're ready to support anything you, Simo, just let me know," MUA National Secretary and chair of the ITF dockers section Paddy Crumlin wrote.
